Voices
by Dr Namgge
Summary: Robotnik has finally managed to hatch his master plan. This and the sudden appearance of mystery voices means friends and foes, old and new are in for some big trouble. Can Sonic save the day, or has everyone heard the last of him?
1. To sleep is to dream usually

* * *

"Help me!" the voice screamed, the fear within became obvious with every passing scream. "Please someone help me!" the screams grew louder, more terrified with each one. The source of the voice was unknown, there was nothing around, but the screams continued, echoing all around the place, until eventually they were deafening, even to him. Robotnik sat upright. The screams had ended. He was back in a familiar landscape now. 

He was in his room of the fortress, one of the few places within the whole thing that wasn't made entirely out of metal. The surrounding's were lavish, with luxurious purple curtains gently flowing in the breeze of the open window. Around him were various items of furniture all made of only the finest materials, which he had gathered himself, and allowed to be used to furnish his private quarters. The room was befitting of a dictator such as himself he thought trying to forget the dream. Robotnik wiped a few beads of sweat off his brow. This was the third time in as many days that he had been woken by the disturbing dreams. He couldn't figure out why they had bothered him, after all he had trapped millions of animals into robots before now, and he often enjoyed to watch them squirm as they were made into Badnik's, yet this screaming within his dream had been keeping him awake. Robotnik decided to give up on sleep for now; he swivelled round, his fat stomach wobbling as he did before he put his feet on the ground. He was wearing white pyjamas with pink polka dots, and a night cap, with the same colours, he went into his cupboard deciding it was best that he got changed. He looked amongst the various coats and trousers, before final settling on a pair of plain black trousers, and a red shirt with a large yellow collar. It was his favourite really of all the outfits he had worn, but he hadn't worn it recently for reason's he never had time to explain.

The memory of the dream bugged him as he walked towards his laboratory. It wasn't so much the screaming, more the fact that he was disturbed by it that bothered him. As clever as he was, Robotnik couldn't place why it bothered him, or even whose voice it was that had been screaming in the dream. He was also rather annoyed as it meant that for the third successive day he had been unable to come up with that killer idea of the day, which normally came to him as he slept. Of course these killer ideas were never really all that special, not one had yet beat Sonic. Sonic, the name alone caused Robotnik to clench his fist and grit his teeth in anger. Were it not for that Hedgehog, the Eggman Empire would be in its glory days, instead of the minimal wreck of a place it was currently. So far all Robotnik had control of was the leftover remains of the Metropolis Zone on Westside Island, and that place had been abandoned many years before Robotnik even emerged on the scene. The anthro's are always like that though; if they lost interest in something, they would just leave it, and go elsewhere. This suited Robotnik, as it meant he was left undisturbed to do as he pleased. Of course he had taken some precautions, making almost all the changes look like they had occurred naturally, and as if the place was abandoned, and unsafe to enter.

Robotnik sat down a desk and turned on a lamp. He didn't have that killer idea, but he had a few reasonable ideas that would help before he was woken, he noted them down, and began to proceed working out the statistical information required to make each idea workable. His first idea, a giant Chilli Dog was ruled out instantly as far too dumb to ever be workable, 'that wouldn't even work in a cartoon' he thought, as he proceeded to throw the piece of paper with a doodle of said Chilli Dog in the bin. It missed lying next to the bin. From out of the corner of the room a small green robot emerged. It was no bigger than a mouse, but was hovering with a quiet hum, not walking as a mouse would. It looked at the piece of paper, and immediately picked it up before placing it into the bin and disappearing back into its hiding hole. This did not even make Robotnik flinch, why should it, he had built said robot to keep the room tidy, and it was fulfilling its purpose. Robotnik proceeded onward dismissing many ideas, scribbling out a few others, and generally accepting most of them as not good enough. A few years ago he might have tried them, but he had been beaten so many times now, that he was only willing to settle for anything with an over ninety six percent chance of success, as he figured it.

An hour passed, and Robotnik had nothing to show for his night's sleep. Not one idea had been any good, all he had was garbage. Undeterred Robotnik got himself up and continued over to a workbench, where he had been tinkering with some key components. He wasn't building anything with them, but he had just been tinkering, disassembling and reassembling to see if he could improve the efficiency of the device. What the device was, he wasn't sure of anymore, he had been fiddling with it on and off for several months to no success. Today would be no different, and after just ten minutes Robotnik gave up with them, frustrated at the lack of inspiration that he had received. He cursed the unknown voice in his dream, and spent the next few hours trying to figure out what it was that was keeping him awake. He assumed that if he got his best ideas in dreams, and something was stopping his dreams, then he should figure out what it was that was stopping him from sleeping. Growing tired of walking he got into one of the many Egg-O-Matic's that were located in the place and flew over to watch one of the many Badnik assembly lines that was located in the place. He enjoyed the site of so many robots being created. Robotnik had returned to an idea he didn't even remember doing where he had seeds used instead of animals inside the Badniks. Although this meant that he couldn't enjoy the site of watching the animals suffer, he still had the joy of watching many new additions to the Eggman Empire being created. Of course most of them were kept in storage, as he did not actually have any purpose for them, but he never saw the harm in having robot's prepared should someone attack him. The rest of the robots were on patrol duty, unless they were specifically to do something. Many of the robots were based off animals, although some clearly had other inspirations placed upon them when they were designed.

Robotnik sat their, gently hovering in place just watching all these new additions to his empire. He began to think back to his dreams, they wasn't much to them, all it was, was a familiar voice screaming for help, yet he just couldn't place who's voice it was, his mind wandered as he thought, something which often happened, and although he never realised it, was often why he failed against Sonic and his friends. He noticed something about one of the conveyor belts, it was loose, and was slowing down production. He immediately ordered some repair bots to sort the problem, and watched them blindly follow his order it was only when he yawned through tiredness that the repair bots stopped, they both looked at him confused for a sec before both walking directly at the other. Robotnik looked at them again. They were just trying to walk through each other, neither of them succeeding, he began to wonder, and quickly realised that it had been triggered by his yawn. He said nothing, and watched them try to get through each other, neither of them seeing the logic of just stepping aside to allow the other through. This had given him an idea; one which he thought had a high chance of success.

Robotnik flew back to the Laboratory, where he began to scribble furiously on many pieces of paper, trying to remember everything before he fell asleep. He got through nearly two pencil's before he had finished writing it all down. He had it. His master plan. It was so simple in theory, but would take a lot of work to get this plan into action, even more than was required to build the Death Egg. Robotnik thought about his master plan, and smiled, this time he didn't even need the power of the Chaos Emeralds to see him through. It was only then did he realise that he had to get them anyway, after all, his plan was only 96.2 likely to succeed, and by taking the Chaos Emeralds all he had to worry about was the remaining three percent. Considering how close he had got the third time, where the odds were just 91.4 percent of success, this did not bother him too much. Now all he had to do was figure out how to get the Emeralds off of the Floating Island. He would figure this later though, it was now half three in the morning, and Robotnik had fallen asleep in his chair.

* * *

_Just what is Robotniks plan, and what is it in his dreams that are disturbing him? Only one way to find out  
_


	2. Stormy nights

_The story so far: Dr Robotnik has come up with a new plan to conquer Mobius, due to some disturbing dreams he has had_

* * *

It had been a stormy night on the Floating Island. The rain had been pummelling the soil with an intensity that had not been seen on the island for eons. This didn't bother the islands lone inhabitant, as he sat ever vigilant, guarding the Master Emerald atop it's alter. Its dull green glow, accompanied by the glow of the other seven Chaos Emeralds, each of which a different colour to the others, seemed to light up the chamber the emeralds were located in. The seven Chaos Emeralds, surrounded the Master Emerald, and through these, and a power which was not fully understood, the island floated high above the rest of the ground. To fall from this height, Knuckles thought, would be certain death. Not that the drop would kill him, of course. Should such a thing ever happen, he would simply glide to safety. Of course Knuckles was never stupid enough to sit at the edge of the island, much preferring to stay somewhere near the middle. His duties as guardian of the Master Emerald prevented him from ever leaving the Island. Of course he had done before, many times in fact, but in these cases it had usually been down to the fact that the Master Emerald had been taken. 

Knuckles thought back to these times, the noise of the storm ruling out the idea of sleep for the night. He had been tricked many times in the past, more often than not by an Ivo Robotnik. Not that it bothered him, after all, the emeralds were returned each time. He was still slightly annoyed that last few times the hero had been a certain blue hedgehog. It was his job to guard the emeralds, it was his destiny, he was the one who had been chosen to safeguard them, yet it was always Sonic who saved the day. There was a loud clap of thunder which distracted Knuckles, and made his dreadlocks shiver. He would never admit to it, but Knuckles hated thunderstorms. It wasn't the storm, but more the surprise with which each bolt hit the ground. Knuckles hated surprises, to him they were a break from routine, and meant the unexpected. When the Death Egg had crashed onto the Floating Island, it had taken him by surprise, and left the place in a state of disrepair. Knuckles hadn't bothered to remove all the traps from that incident, many of them improved the islands security, but he had disabled the robots, partially because they were powered by animals, but mostly because they had him down as the enemy, and would often attack him. As tough as Knuckles made himself out to be, being attacked by swarms of Badnik's was not his idea of fun.

Their was another crackle, and Knuckles saw a bolt hit a tree, it was barely twenty feet away from where he sat, watching for intruders the tree was part of a dense cluster, near to a high cliff edge. In his youth, Knuckles had practiced climbing those walls, a skill which he found useful later in life. The tree began to topple, and fall roughly towards where Knuckles sat. Knuckles jumped up, and took one of the emeralds with him as he did. With a crash, the tree fell into the emerald chamber. The movement of the emerald made the island begin to wobble, but Knuckles kept hold of it for a moment. The rain stopped the burning tree from completely setting fire to the place, but it left an opening. It was then that Knuckles heard it.

There was a voice, it was too quiet to make out what it was saying, but there was someone their. Defending the emeralds, Knuckles yelled out "who's their? C'mon show yourself! I'll take you whoever you are."

There was no reply, instead the voice just kept on talking. Knuckles waited a minute. There was still no response to his challenge. Annoyed by the unwillingness of this threat, Knuckles proceeded forward. The voice continued to speak, yet Knuckles still could not figure out what it was saying, as he got closer to it, Knuckles realised the voice was speaking in a language he did not understand. Yelling again at this 'threat' to the emeralds, Knuckles entered the newly made opening. Aside from the yellow glow of the Chaos Emerald, the cave he found himself in was pitch black. Knuckles, in an attempt to see things better, held the Chaos Emerald in front of him. He proceeded forward, into unknown terrain. Although he had lived on the island for the whole of his life, Knuckles had not been to much of the island, it was far too big for him to explore, without leaving the emeralds unprotected, he only ever left the emerald chamber for food, unless the emeralds were under threat, as they were now.

The voice grew louder, still talking in its undecipherable language. Knuckles wasn't familiar with this cave, and began to slip about in the mud. He cursed the sky as he proceeded, why did it always have to be raining when he searched a new area. Of course the sky's only response to this was to continue raining. After much walking, and a couple of near falls in the mud, Knuckles reached the source of the voice. There appeared to be nothing their. The voice had stopped. Knuckles rubbed his eyes, cursing the storm for keeping him awake too long. There was a loud thunder clasp overhead, the sky's way of disagreeing with him, thought Knuckles. He turned round to leave, fumbling the wall for the exit. There was click, and then a loud bang. To his right, a large pile of boulders slipped downwards. Jumping clear of them, Knuckles noticed the new opening. Knuckles looked back to the start, wondering if he should continue down this new path, or whether he should go back to the rest of the Emeralds. Realising his duty, Knuckles turned towards where he came in and began forward

"Juneao omisha! Tekota eno katrinsh sleegoff Knuckles!" spoke the voice

Upon hearing his name be uttered, Knuckles turned back to where this new opening. Was someone trying to speak to him, he thought, as he proceeded into this new passage. Knuckles still couldn't determine anything about the voice; it had no distinction on it, and was calm as it spoke. Knuckles couldn't even think whether the voice was male or female, of it even had a gender at all. One thing he knew from experience was that it wasn't the voice of anyone he knew, and it seemed to want to his attention. Knuckles headed into the new passage.

Unlike the caves entrance, this passage was smooth walled, and was decorated with intricate markings. Knuckles couldn't figure out what any of them meant; they certainly weren't Echidna patterns to him. The voice beckoned him forwards, and for some reason, he trusted it. Continuing forward, Knuckles reached into another room. There was a clap from inside it, and the room lit up. The room itself was a palace, full of marble statues and exquisitely designed fabrics. Unlike much of the islands past, this room was in pristine condition, as if it was still being lived in and maintained to this day. Knuckles marvelled at the sight that beheld him, aside from the Flying Battery Zone, he had never seen anything on the Floating Island look so well kept. Not even the emerald chamber, the place where he had spent most of his time, was this well looked after. Knuckles struggled to comprehend how all this was possible, as he gazed at the sight that beheld him. Unfortunately for him though, this was the last thing that he saw before everything went black.

* * *

_What was the voice trying to say? where is_ _Knuckles? only one way to find out, keep reading_


	3. The noises of the workshop

_The story so far: Knuckles has found himself lost in a part of the Floating Island he was unaware of. Meanwhile Robotnik has come up with his master plan_

* * *

Tails had been up all night working on the new engine for the plane. He had spent so long doing it, he hadn't even realised that it was even night time. Their was no need for this modification really, Sonic had told him that he was just wasting his time on something that was pointless, yet let Tails do it, as he seemed to enjoy it. Even if he never saw how himself, Sonic would always allow Tails do it, as he seemed to enjoy it. If Tails was completely honest with himself, this modification was rather pointless; all this would achieve was an additional three percent fuel efficiency. Sonic had asked him what this meant, when he had first mentioned it, to which Tails explained that it would enable them to be flying slightly longer before they had to re-fuel. When Sonic had asked if it would slow things down, Tails had said no. Of course he had lied to Sonic, this modification _would_ indeed slow the plane down, but the drop in speed would be so small that Tails didn't think Sonic would ever notice it; it's just that Tails knew how Sonic liked to go fast, and thought it would be best for him to say nothing. 

Sonic had left Tails to it, he couldn't deal with being cooped up inside all day, especially as he had nothing to do. Tails didn't mind that Sonic had gone for a run; he actually suggested it to him, as Sonic kept disturbing him as he made these improvements. Tails remembered back to the last time Sonic had tried to help him with technical stuff, Sonic had got so confused, that it took Tails longer to repair the damage Sonic had done, than it did for him to fix the device itself. Sonic was alright, it's just that he doesn't have any patience, thought Tails, as he adjusted some of the Tornado's components.

After over twelve hours of labour, Tails had finally finished the modifications. He was about to give it a test run, when he heard it. There was a humming noise, an unfamiliar hum too. Tails' ears twitched as he heard it. He turned his head round to where this hum was coming from, and saw nothing. Brushing his hands over himself to get the dirt off, as he got up, Tails proceeded to where the hum came from. He walked over to the back of his workshop. Looking amongst the devices he saw that one of them had been left on. It was just a portable vacuum cleaner, one he used to clean the place up. He turned it off, thinking to himself that Sonic must've been playing with it before he went, and returned to the Tornado.

Placing some wires into the engine of the Tornado, Tails began to measure the inputs and outputs. Switching the engine on, Tails began to measure how much improvement had been made. The engine gave a load roar, as it flicked into life, drowning out all other noise in the process. The tests showed improvements in all areas, but not as many as Tails had hoped they would. Tails was slightly disappointed by this, but smiled anyway, the improvements were a success. Taking out the wires beforehand, Tails closed the hood of the Tornado, and took the keys out of the ignition. Yawning as he got out of the workshop Tails proceeded to close the shutter door. He nearly closed it when he realised he'd left the light on. Raising the shutter, Tails walked back in and flicked the switch. Then he heard it again, there was that faint humming again. Tails stopped. He walked over to the counter, and picked up the vacuum. I thought I'd turned that off, thought Tails, as he slid the device's switch. The machine then began to suck at the dust on the counter. This puzzled Tails, and he turned off the vacuum. The hum continued. Tails looked at the vacuum; it was off, as were the rest of the devices in his workshop. Tails continued to search for the source of this humming.

After much searching, he concluded that the humming was not in the workshop at all. Tails closed the shutter of his shop, before beginning to search outside. Although his shop was filled with much technical items, outside was different. Tails' workshop was located in the middle of nowhere, at Sonic's insistence. As far as Sonic saw it, there was a risk of someone 'rather eggy' invading his workshop, and flying away with his inventions. Tails didn't want to point out to Sonic that Robotnik could probably build something similar himself, should he get the idea, but Sonic thought it was for the best, and Tails agreed. Tails listened carefully for the humming. It seemed to be coming from behind the workshop. The moon was full, and the skies were clear here, allowing Tails to easily see what was going on. He searched the back of his shop carefully, now concerned that someone was spying on him. After an intense search of the nearby area, Tails had found nothing, and was about to give up hope, when he fell over one of the twigs on the floor. Gripping his knee in pain, he noticed a very small little bug. He carefully picked it up, curiously looking at it. Listening intently, he realised this was the source of the humming. He re-entered his workshop, and found a magnifying glass looking carefully at the bug he began to pry at it with a tiny screwdriver. It was then that the bug let off a spray of green gas, and before he knew it, Tails was sound asleep on the workshop floor. Annoyed at being prodded by a screwdriver, the bug then flew off into the night sky.

Tails awoke the next morning, just as Sonic had returned from wherever he had been. Tails had got up, and thought nothing more of the previous night's events, they had just happened, and weren't significant. Sonic seemed a little distracted.

"You okay Sonic?" asked Tails not really even sure if he himself was.

Sonic looked at his friend, and gave a smile as he said "It's nothing little buddy, we've been through worse before."

"So what was it then?" Tails pried, now curious as to whether what had happened to him was related, to what had disturbed Sonic.

"I just said nothing, dude. It was nothing serious anyway. I just thought I heard something last night, underneath the Floating Island, probably nothing though." Sonic answered, seemingly unconcerned by it "Don't worry though; I'm sure it's nothing." Sonic said trying to reassure both himself and Tails. He didn't like to act concerned, especially not in front of Tails, as that would get him worried, and when Tails was worried, he began to get panicky. Sonic didn't like to see Tails panicked, it made him feel nervous.

"Was it a kind of humming?" Tails asked, trying to see a connection.

Sonic looked at Tails puzzled, "A humming? Why would it be a humming? Nah, I thought I heard a voice, a familiar one too…"

* * *

_What has Sonic heard? Why did Tails seem so concerned? There's only one way to find out, keep reading_  



	4. The old switcheroo

_Th story so far:_ _Tails has spent his night tinkerring on the Tornado. Meanwhile Knuckles has had a bizzarre experience_

* * *

Robotnik couldn't believe his luck when he approached the Floating Island. Not only was the storm masking his approach perfectly, but when he got their, there was no sign of Knuckles to be seen. Robotnik flew in from his latest flying fortress; there was no need to bring the whole thing in; not when there was a storm of this magnitude going on, way to risky. Robotnik flew in on his Egg-O-Matic, accompanied by a squadron of his robots. The robots were a mixed bag, some of them simple machines, armed with guns to merely provide a distraction, others more sophisticated, designed to follow his plan to perfection. It had taken him a couple of months to setup this plan, but it was done now, and this was the first phase of it. The storm provided the perfect cover, even if it did mean he and his flying machines were likely to get shocked by the lightning. Narrowly dodging a bolt Robotnik proceeded onto the island. 

The islands defence system was very complex, the slightest wrong footing in certain areas could trigger a giant earthquake designed to crush whoever set foot into that area. The only way to get through it safely was through blind speed, and dumb luck, or in Robotnik's case, to know how to override the security system. Knuckles had never worked out that it was even possible to deactivate these traps, let alone tried to. Robotnik of course had done it; he had done it a couple of times before too, the first when he was making his escape after Sonic and Tails had brought down his beloved Death Egg, for the second time. Robotnik had used this knowledge to escape, but always reset the traps; after all there was no need to arouse suspicions. After he had finished with tonight's work, he was going to turn the traps back on. The plan may be the most likely for success, but that is not guaranteed, thought Robotnik.

Robotnik and his robot minions made their way to the emerald chamber. The place was deserted, and there was a tree lying near to the emeralds. It had been recently knocked down by the storm. Wiping some rain of his glasses, Robotnik walked forwards. There they were before him, six beautiful Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik looked puzzled for a second; surely there were seven Chaos Emeralds. After some hesitation, Robotnik decided to proceed. He had no use for all of them this time, and even if he did, the fact that one was missing defeated the object. Carefully Robotnik got his minions to make the switch. The red emerald was hoisted out of its position on within the blink of an eye it was replaced with a fake. It was a convincing fake too. Almost identical in every way, bar the level of power it could produce. Robotnik looked over the rest of the emeralds slightly nervously. For now he had no use for them, not if his plan was to work, they had to stay where they were. Robotnik sighed with disappointment, as he had never actually had a chance to get them all this easy, since his first attempt to take over. Robotnik proceeded back to where he entered the island, resetting the traps as he went.

Robotnik breathed a sigh of relief as he got back onboard his ship. Walking into the bridge, clutching the red Chaos Emerald in his sweaty palm he smiled triumphantly. He had no idea what he was going to do with this lone Chaos Emerald, as he had no idea of how to use them alone. He had seen Sonic do it before, but he had never successfully tapped into their power alone. He knew however of their potential when all seven were utilized together. If he was honest with himself, he was disappointed with the fact that the whole mission had been about as challenging as solving a quadratic equation in his head. Flying back to the Metropolis Zone would take some time, and since he couldn't do anything until he got there. Robotnik decided now would be a good time for some shut eye.

"No! What are you doing to me? Stop! Please help me someone!" the screaming of Robotnik's dreams had gotten worse recently. "Please help me! I can't stop it! Sonic help!" Robotnik awoke with a shock. His face was pale at this. He couldn't figure out what it was that was going on. First he starts to suffer nightmares, next thing he's having dreams of people seeking his enemies help. Robotnik rubbed his temples tentatively, he needed sleep, but just hadn't been able to get any over these recurring dreams, and it was seriously frustrating him now. Fortunately for him, he had arrived at the Metropolis Zone, and was able to get on with his work. Sitting down in his lab, he began to inspect his ill gotten Chaos Emerald tentatively. Robotnik felt a shock, causing him to drop the emerald to the floor. Struggling against his own body mass, Robotnik reached for the emerald. Carefully he picked it up and placed it onto the metal workbench. It was then that a message flashed up onto his computer. Forgetting about the emerald for a moment he turned to his computer. It showed a security camera feed from outside the perimeter of the zone, a familiar looking blue blur ran past, uncaring of what was going on inside the zone. Robotnik smirked at this, if only Sonic knew he had one of the Chaos Emeralds, but now was not the time for gloating, their was still much work that needed doing if he were to be triumphant this time.

Amongst some of the other stuff that was on his computer was the report from his bug, which he had created to spy on Tails. The report of it did not make for good reading, as their was little of relevance to be found, which he either had no use for, or hadn't already done himself. Even worse was that the report stated that the bug had been discovered, meaning that this would be the last report from this bug, as it had self destructed. Robotnik smacked the computer at this; it would take at least three days to get another bug in place of this one, time he needed to spend elsewhere. He ordered a team of robots to get on with the building of a newer version of the bug, while he continued inspecting the Chaos Emerald. Robotnik received another shock from it, and fell to the floor unconscious.

* * *

_Just what is it about this dream that's so disturbing? Why did the Chaos Emerald shock Robotnik_? _There's only one way to find out, keep reading_


	5. Under the island

_The story so far: Robotnik has been injured by the Chaos Emeralds. Meanwhile Tails has repaired the Tornado_

* * *

Sonic had left Tails workshop. Tails was busy doing something or other, to the Tornado. Sonic didn't exactly understand what he was doing; he had asked but Tails had descended into techno speak, which just left Sonic more confused than when he started. He asked Tails in simple terms if it would make his red bi-plane faster, to which Tails had said, something about better efficiency, which Sonic had taken as a yes. Deciding to leave Tails to what he enjoyed doing, Sonic went for a run, the thing he enjoyed doing most. He ran from the workshop, in no specific target in mind, he had nowhere to go. Instead he was just running for the fun of it. Within a few moments the workshop was just a distant memory to Sonic, he had cleared the zone that was located in, three zones ago. 

Sonic continued running, crossing one of the great bridges that had been setup to allow access from one continent to another. No one was really sure who had built these bridges, or even why they were their, but Sonic didn't care enough to think about it, to him they just meant he could go wherever he wanted without having to get his feet wet Sonic had no problem with water, it was just that he could never guarantee he would get out of the ocean alive in the same way he had got out of places like the Labyrinth Zone, where their was normally a conveniently placed crack which spewed out clean air, which kept him going back then. Within mere moments Sonic found himself on Westside Island. He decided to go over the mountain this time, instead of through it like when he fought Robotnik the second time. It wasn't that steep a climb really, and Sonic had no trouble making it to the top with a few well placed jumps. When he reached the top, he admired the view for a few moments; the ocean to his left was still full of oil, as it had been ages ago. No one ever seemed to bother cleaning up the planet; Sonic thought to himself as he looked at the place, to his right he could see the Floating Island, surrounded by what looked like a rather nasty storm cloud. He grinned at the idea of Knuckles being annoyed by it. Sonic had no idea why he thought it, but he always imagined Knuckles to be afraid of lightning.

Sonic decided he'd had enough of this view and descended down the other side of the mountain. Had he waited a moment longer, he would've seen something else of interest to him. Unfortunately Sonic was not the type of hedgehog to wait for life to catch up to him, preferring instead to catch up to life at his pace, not its. Sonic continued forward, now heading to where the Floating Island was hovering. He headed towards it at a reasonable pace; arriving in less time than it would've took Robotnik to work out a quadratic equation in his head.

Sonic arrived under the island and decided this would be a good place to rest for a few minutes. There was no-one around for miles. Ironically, Sonic thought, the nearest living thing was Knuckles all alone on his floating kingdom. Sonic laid back on the ground, resting up against a palm tree. The storm seemed to be centred entirely over the Floating Island, leaving Sonic as dry as a bone underneath the island. Sonic looked to the sky, the moon was full, and Sonic felt tired. The floating Island seemed to be wobbling, but Sonic couldn't work out if that was just because of the storm distorting his sight, or if it was genuinely unstable. Sonic thought nothing of it, and decided he'd set up camp here, underneath the island. His eyelids began to feel heavy, and he began to drift in and out of consciousness.

"You must help me, I am trapped here, and need your help." the voice had said, before continuing "you must free me! I can't get out of here. Help me please! I'm doomed if you don't" the voice didn't appear to have a source, Sonic stood up, and looked for the voices origin point, but there didn't seem to be one. "Please I beg of thee, you must free me, stop him from killing me, or you will be next. Please save me Knuckles." Sonic thought for a moment, why would someone speak to him if they wanted Knuckles' help. Sonic couldn't figure it out. The voice kept on talking, saying the same sort of thing over and over.

The sound of a couple of flickeys chirping on the tree woke Sonic from his slumber. He was startled by what had gone on before; he still wasn't sure if had actually happened or if it was a dream. Sonic wasn't too sure how much time had passed, he had run with the sun, which often meant he had travelled through a couple of time zones. Sonic was useless with maths, and decided it wasn't worth trying to figure it out. He knew where he was, he was on Westside Island, and he also knew that he should go see if Tails had finished tinkering with the Tornado. After a bit of limbering up, Sonic blasted full pelt past the Metropolis Zone, too quick to hear the alarm bells ring as he ran past it, dashing through the caves, he made his way off the island and back towards where Tails had been the previous day, in his workshop, in the middle of nowhere. It had been Sonic's idea to relocate their, after all, he didn't want 'Eggman' to see what it was that Tails had been working on. Sonic didn't know much on science, but he knew that if Tails came up with something good, chances were Robotnik would want it. Of course Sonic had to search for the lab, even though he knew roughly where it was, it was just pinpointing it's location that was the problem.

Sonic had returned to find Tails lying on the floor asleep. Thinking to himself that his little buddy worked too hard, he ran off to get some food for both him and his two tailed friend. When he returned, one breakfast in hand (Sonic had already scoffed his down in record time, and had had another serving), Sonic noticed that Tails was awake, the pair began to talk. Sonic mentioned that he heard something to Tails. For some reason, Tails then asked if it was a humming noise. Sonic thought of this to be an odd question and proceeded to tell Tails what had happened.

"Sounds like it was just a dream to me, Sonic" Tails said, upon hearing the story. "Probably you were just asleep."

"Then why did I dream about this 'voice' asking Knuckles for help?" wondered Sonic, his ego taking a minor blow, as he wasn't even the main hero in his own dreams.

"Maybe because you were under the Floating Island" Tails seemed a bit distracted by something as he spoke.

Sonic decided Tails was probably right. If something really wanted him, he'd know, and if someone did indeed want Knuckles, then it was his problem, not Sonic's. Sonic changed the subject, and asked Tails if he had finished sorting out whatever it was that was wrong with the plane. Tails smiled confidently, and assured Sonic that what he had done was for the better. Sonic had an idea, and asked Tails if it had been tested. Tails began to ramble through various statistics, and numbers. Most of this didn't sink into Sonic's head, but a smile crept across his face when he heard the top speed. It was lower than his, he thought, and seemed to be glad of that fact.

"So have you taken it for a flight yet?" asked Sonic, eager to get going

"Umm, not yet…" Tails hesitated "there are still a couple of things to do before we can actually fly it."

The smile slipped off of Sonic's face faster than the length of time it took to convince Knuckles that the moon was made of cheese. Sonic was slightly disappointed, despite what Tails had said about his dream, Sonic still wanted to go up to the Floating Island and confirm what he believed he saw, and the only way up to it was on the wings of the Tornado.

"So how long will it take to run these tests then?" asked Sonic, almost impatiently.

* * *

_Just what is the voice wanting Knuckles for? Why did Sonic hear it? There's only one way to find out, keep reading_  



	6. Into the nothingness

_The story so far: Robotnik has got his hands on a Chaos Emerald. Meanwhile Sonic has heard a familiar voice_

* * *

Knuckles was surrounded by the darkness. It did not matter which way he looked, or how far he ran, there was nothing to be seen. Knuckles kept fumbling for something, yet there was nothing. No walls, no furniture, nothing to tell him where he was, which way he was heading, and how far he had moved from the start. Knuckles was lost in the darkness. He began to tense up at this, the unknown concerned him. Without any indication of where he was, and seemingly no way out, Knuckles sat down. The floor wasn't cold, but it was not warm either. The floor didn't seem to feel any different to anything else, and didn't seem to even be noticeable from the nothingness that surrounded him. Knuckles put his hand on the floor and tried to feel what exactly they were made of, to his surprise, his hand fell further through the floor than the ground he was sat on. After some experimentation Knuckles concluded that there was no floor to be found. Lying back, Knuckles realised that there was no way for him to escape from this unknown himself. It was then that Knuckles realised he had a Chaos Emerald with him, before he emerged here. Searching furiously Knuckles was agitated to discover that the emerald he had held in his paw, was not their. 

Not one to give up easily, Knuckles yelled out "Where's the emerald? Come on I know you've got it, hand it over now, and I might not hurt you … too much." Knuckles awaited a response, but there wasn't one. Knuckles continued to shout at the nothingness, and the nothingness continued to ignore his yells. Finally after his throat was beginning to hurt, he gave up. Knuckles never usually gave up, he was a fighter, but to be trapped in an inescapable nothingness, which left him with no options. "Alright, I'll play your stupid games for now then. What do you want from me?" Knuckles asked the nothingness, still tensed enough to attack anything which emerged from it.

The nothingness didn't respond, something which was beginning to become a habit of it's. "Why am I here? What were you trying to tell me?" Knuckles asked now curious, and trying to see if the nothingness he found himself in was connected to the voice he had heard when he was in the chamber. Knuckles wondered for a second about the chamber, before getting back to the task at hand. He couldn't allow himself to get distracted, every second he spent here was a second the emeralds were unguarded. He began to get nervous about the emeralds, despite the fact that they were high in the sky on the Floating Island. Knuckles began to wonder if he was still on the Floating Island, and what had happened to the emeralds. As if on cue, a light emerged from the nothingness. The light was green, and seemed to beckon Knuckles towards it. Seeing it as his way out of the darkness, Knuckles began to make his way towards it.

As he approached the light, there was a loud cackle, and laughter filled the nothingness. Knuckles covered his ears, deafened by the laughter of it. Then it stopped, as abruptly as it had started, the laughter ceased. Knuckles uncovered his ears. Continuing towards the light Knuckles began to feel tired, it was as if the closer he got to the light, the less energy he had. Knuckles kept going trying his hardest to stay awake through this. If it meant he could escape the nothingness, Knuckles was going to fight his new found tiredness. With the energy all but gone from his body Knuckles threw his hands forward into the beam of green light. With a flash the whole place went from a dark nothingness, to a white nothingness. Now able to see again, Knuckles was fully aware that he was indeed lost in some sort of void, still without any kind of exit. Knuckles no longer felt tired, and began swiping at the void in frustration. He'd spent to long in the nothingness for his liking, and wanted to be able to find something again. It felt like he had been trapped here for an absolute age. Knuckles begin to lose hope, whatever it was that was keeping him here clearly had no intention of letting him go, and with nothing physical to fight against their was no way of getting out of here. For the first time in his life, Knuckles began to feel completely helpless.

"Jekartho Knuckles." came the voice, again speaking in words Knuckles did not understand. "Onimishing washintea eno accetino fe geot. Likidepa fashom eno probatinol, et fashom Chaos" Knuckles' eyes widened, whatever this voice was, not only did it know of him, but it also seemed to know of Chaos, Knuckles began to listen closely trying to make out if the voice meant the Chaos Emeralds, or if it was referring to the monstrous beast Chaos, the deity which had destroyed much of the Floating Island many thousands of years ago. The beast was currently locked away inside the Master Emerald. Knuckles began to think again of the Emeralds, wondering how long exactly he had been here in the nothingness, and fearing the worst had already happened to the emeralds. The light flickered for a second, as if whatever it was that was keeping the place alight had become unstable. The amount of light returned, but the nothingness gave no indication as to what had caused this problem, or even if it was indeed a problem at all. Knuckles began to feel unsure of whether or not he should trust the voice that was coming from this void; it sounded as though it meant no harm to him, but Knuckles had been tricked many times before, and was unsure what to make of this voice. It seemed to be trustworthy, but so had Robotnik, and Knuckles didn't need reminding of what happened their. The only thing Knuckles could do was wait, as there wasn't anyway out of their.

After a moment, the voice continued talking to Knuckles, still speaking in it's undecipherable language, Knuckles began to pick out a couple of words, hearing 'Babylon', 'Hyper', and even 'Pachacamac's' name cropped up a couple of times, which confirmed to Knuckles that whatever it was that this voice was, it clearly knew it's Floating Island history. Yet despite all of these things he had successfully picked out, Knuckles still couldn't understand exactly what it was that he was being told, or even why it was being told to him. All Knuckles knew was that whatever it was that was being said, it was definitely meant for him to hear, which annoyed him slightly as he couldn't figure out what it was he was supposed to hear. The light flickered again, and Knuckles found himself again in the darkness. Knuckles looked again at the darkness.

There was a loud noise and Knuckles opened his eyes, shocked to find himself sat atop the Master Emerald had he been dreaming. He looked around, the tree that had fallen over was back where it should be; there was no sign of a cave at all. Knuckles ran over to where the tree stood, and with one punch, knocked the tree from where it used to live. Knuckles looked at where there was a cave, and saw nothing. There was just a rock wall. Frustrated and thinking he had been tricked; Knuckles began furiously punching at the wall, in the vain hope to find there was something there. He was put of luck, digging only unearthed more rock. Accepting that it had all been a dream, Knuckles returned to his position watching the Chaos Emeralds. It was only when he walked back to them, that he noticed that one of the emeralds were missing

* * *

_What was the voice trying to tell Knuckles? where is the missing Chaos Emerald? there's only one way to find out, keep reading_  



	7. A brief history lesson

_The story so far: Sonic has heard a voice underneath the floating island. Meanwhile Knuckles has lost one of the Chaos Emeralds_

* * *

"Scanning for files," the screen read, with a small loading bar atop it, "searching," it read as the computer ran through numerous files; three dots flickering on the screen as it did. The computer beeped, and showed one result. With a click the file was opened:

The Chaos Emeralds are considered by most to be the one of the valuable possession that the Floating Island has. They are seven glowing gems, which naturally are green, but thanks to the power they possess, appear in a variety of colours. To many, the Chaos Emeralds are just a set of colourful gems, and are consequently rather valuable. There aren't too many creatures who know of their true ability though. If a creature is strong enough in spirit, they can tap into the power that the emeralds possess allowing themselves to become invincible. There are two types of power in the emeralds though, positive, and negative energy. The negative energy is more concentrated, and easier to get into due to they way that they were created.

The original purpose of the Chaos Emeralds was to help Pachacamac, the leader of the Echidna tribe's plan to dominate his enemies. The Chaos Emeralds were built as a counter for the power that Pachacamac had stumbled across in the Master Emerald. He learned quickly of the immense power it held, even if he himself did not understand it. However the power it contained was unstable, it was too volatile to use without something to stabilise it. Thus the Chaos Emeralds were created, seven mystical gems. Of course by default they are powerless, but Pachacamac soon managed to magically fill them with power.

This didn't last long though, as soon the source of the Master Emeralds power appeared. It was a deity, called by the Echidnas "Chaos" after the Emeralds that were designed to contain it. Chaos quickly began to make short work of the Echidna's, until Tikal, Pachacamac's own fourteen year old daughter, cast the sealing spell, trapping both herself and Chaos inside the Master Emerald.

Unfortunately for the Echidnas, Chaos' fury had caused lots of damage to the island, and had sent it crashing to the ground. The explosion sent the Chaos Emeralds high into the sky, not to be seen for a very long time after this incident. They were cast aside, some fell into precarious places, not to be found for generations, and others became jewellery. One of the emeralds, the grey Emerald, landed back on the Floating Island, and the Echidnas decided to store it within an alternate reality. The true power of them, however, was not known for a very long time after this incident. The story of the island in the sky went from news, to a legend, to myth, and eventually became a fairy tale, told to small kids, to teach them the importance of not being greedy.

It was only when the scientist Dr Kintobor crashed onto Mobius by accident that the truth of the Chaos Emeralds began to emerge. The doctor found one by chance, and began to investigate it. Through chance he learned of their capability to store energy near limitlessly, and learned of the story of the island in the sky. Through pure searching, and some pleading with those who owned them, Kintobor managed to secure himself six of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Unbeknownst to him, the seventh was sat inside an alternate reality.

Dr Kintobor had suggested early on in his life that good and evil, where in-fact, types of energy. His theory had been discredited, mostly due to the fact that he had never found a conduit inside which he could successfully store said energy. Through painstaking tests, Kintobor had found that the six emeralds he possessed were indeed capable of holding those two types of energy. Not content, however, with just collecting enough energy to prove his theory, Dr Kintobor made it his life's work to rid the planet he now found himself living on, of all the evil that resided in it. Unfortunately for him the six emeralds where to unstable, and he needed the last emerald, his "chaos controlling" emerald. Kintobor, inspired by the work of one of his professor relatives, even trained up a hedgehog to run at really fast speeds, inadvertently turning him blue in the process, in order to help him find the grey emerald.

This search continued on for a while, without any success. Dr Kintobor began to work on another idea he had to neutralise the instability of the emeralds. It was a risky process, and required the utmost of concentration. It was also around this point that his hedgehog assistant handed him a rotten egg. Something went awry, and the machine which the emeralds were sat in began to overload. A blue force field shot out from the machine and enveloped Dr Kintobor. A beam of energy struck him in the forehead, and his face began to change from one of absolute panic, to that of malicious glee. The hair on his head began to fall out, and his ginger moustache became erratically wild. Kintobor's body began to take the form of the egg he had been previously holding. His hedgehog assistant was stunned by this, and gave the newly named Robotnik the time required to escape with the Chaos Emeralds.

Robotnik and his former assistant Sonic have clashed many times since then, with all seven of the Chaos Emeralds eventually ending up in the possession of one Knuckles the Echidna, on the Floating Island, where they had been many thousand of years before. It was during their third battle, when Robotnik was trying to make his Death Egg, an orbiting battle station, re-operational, that the Chaos Emeralds were returned to their resting place on the Floating Island. They had been taken many times since, but they always found their way back.

The file ended there. A small disk was inserted into the computer terminal. The machine scanned the disk, and with a few clicks the document was transferred to the disk, and deleted from the terminal. The disk was removed with a clunk. On the monitor next to the terminal, a silhouette of a human face, with an elongated moustache appeared. On this machine the file was searched for.

"File not found," the computer responded. There was a click of the mouse, and then the tapping of several keystrokes, before the machine repeated the same error message. A few more clicks; and a second disk was inserted into the drive. The disk spun in the machine for a moment, before the machine recognised it. Clicking amongst the menus, several files were hidden in the terminal. Quickly they spread across the network, and a mass of error messages appeared briefly, before everything appeared to return to normal. The whirring died as the second disk was ejected.

There was a second whirring noise, as a red metallic robot hovered away from the terminal.

* * *

_ What was that robot doing? What's so special about that file? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	8. Battle of the sky

_The story so far: Knuckles has lost one of the Emeralds. Also I've explained the version of Sonic's history I'm using  
_

* * *

For three hours, Tails had run tests on the Tornado. He had checked everything several times over. Tails would never really admit it, but he was more confident flying via his twin tails that gave him his nickname, than he was flying the bi-plane. Flying on his tails, he thought, was instinct to him, flying a plane, on the other hand, had a lot of possible errors attached. Of course Tails could not fly for anywhere near as long on his Tails as he could on the Tornado, which made the bi-plane essential should he and Sonic ever need to get to the Floating Island. Sonic had spent most of this time sat nearby, enjoying the breeze from underneath a palm tree. Sonic had little understanding of technical knowledge, he had never really been clever, in the academic sense of the word, but he wanted to be there when the plane was ready to go. Sonic wanted up to the Floating Island, to see if what he had heard had been significant. Of course Sonic had to wait for Tails to finish, there was no point going anywhere, after all he wanted up to the Floating Island, and now. 

"It's ready now Sonic" Tails said, pleased with his work.

"So we can go flying now then?" Sonic asked glad to hear Tails had finished. Sonic had been bored solid while waiting for Tails to finish. He knew Tails had to get everything right, and that that took time, it's just that Sonic was naturally impatient.

"Yes, we can go now" Tails responded, watching a smile creep across Sonic's face "Anywhere you want to head in particular?" Tails asked, pretty sure how Sonic would respond anyway

"We could go to the Floating Island" Sonic grinned, pleased with himself as he suggested it.

* * *

The flight from the lab had taken over an hour, Sonic said where the Floating Island had been, but when they arrived there it was no longer their. This puzzled Sonic, until Tails pointed out that the island itself could fly. The pair of then began to search the sky's for the island, Sonic saw it to his left, now above the old Scrap Brain Zone. Sonic always had hated that place; it was an industrial ruin, which was used to make anything for Robotnik, from bombs, to parts of his Death Egg. Sonic liked to explore, but he had not been back there since his first battle against Robotnik. 

Their was an explosion from behind them, Sonic turned around to see another bi-plane not to far behind them, and just a little bit above, Sonic couldn't tell who was flying it, but stood atop it's wings was a green duck, with a yellow beak. "Oi! Get out of our air-space!" yelled the duck, before jumping off its bi-plane and lobbing another bomb. The duck somersaulted as it threw the bomb, landed back on top of its purple bi-plane.

"Looks like we've got company" said Sonic to Tails anxiously. Sonic had found the flight so far dull, and had finally found something interesting to do with it.

"Sonic don't, we can outrun them," Tails said not wanting to risk the plane getting blown up. Tails could not save himself or Sonic at this height. Another bomb flew past, rolling right across the wing of the Tornado. It kept rolling blowing up a few seconds later, after the Tornado was out of its blast radius. Sonic looked back to see the duck jump up and down madly, before grabbing another bomb from its plane.

"Do you think we can outrun that!" Sonic yelled, knowing he was right. Tails sighed, and turned the plane around to engage them. Tails flicked a switch in the cockpit of the Tornado, and brought up a pair of machine guns.

The two planes headed for each other. The purple plane slowed down slightly, and the duck jumped forward. Another three bombs were flung forward and Tails used all his skill to dodge them. The purple plane rushed forward, and the duck only just managed to land back atop of it. "I told you not to do that Bean, you trying to kill yourself!" the name struck Sonic, and he finally realised who this was attacking him and Tails.

"You remember when Robotnik revealed he had a second Death Egg, flying about in space, shortly after we had smashed the first one?" Sonic asked Tails before continuing, "Well I think were currently in the company of two of the 'enemies' I fought when making my way there." Sonic remembered the pair well. Bark was a tough Polar Bear, from one of the colder areas of Mobius. He was quite calm, unlike Bean, who was rather crazy. Sonic thought that Bean didn't exactly have all of his marbles upstairs, something which he proved by willingly filling an entire arena with bombs, just to try and stop Sonic from progressing.

The two planes darted around each other Bark, started to fire some machine guns from his plane. Sonic ducked down and held onto the wings of the plane as Tails barrel rolled his way clear of the fire. Tails began to fire his machine guns back in response; Bean jumped up and began to fly into the air for a few seconds, while Bark did some aerial manoeuvres of his own, to avoid Tails' fire. Bean found his way onto the top of the Tornado, and began to peck at Sonic. Sonic jumped onto the air, curling as he leapt, and landed square on Beans forehead. The duck fell backwards, before leaping up and kicking Sonic. The two Bi-planes passed one another and Sonic found himself on the wings of the purple Bi-plane, with Bean stood atop of the Tornado. Both machine guns stopped firing at this point, neither pilot wanting to risk the life of the wing walker on the other plane. Sonic couldn't do anything at this point, and neither could Bark. Bark tried to knock the hedgehog off with one of his hands, but Sonic was too quick, and dodged every swipe. He could've got up and dealt with Sonic properly, but if he did the plane he was on would lose control, and they would both crash. They both looked at each other, unsure what to do. The pair waited quietly for a moment, waiting for an opportunity for Sonic to get back on his own plane. Bean on the other hand, had other ideas; he flew off the plane, and began to peck at Tails.

"Ow ow ow!" yelped Tails as he felt Bean peck at him. The duck was incessant in his pecking, and Tails began to swipe and him with his paw. Bean continued to peck at Tails, much to his annoyance, when Tails swiped him with both of his tails, Bean was sent flying back. The Tornado began to head down, and Tails had to fight with the controls to bring it level again. Bean had inadvertently positioned himself between the two planes, and was about to lunge again at Tails when Sonic leapt off the purple plane and landed on Beans head, within a second of landing on him, Sonic had already jumped off, leaving Bean disorientated, and landed atop of the wings of the Tornado. Bean looked at Sonic, but was beckoned back to the purple bi-plane by Bark. Dutifully he obliged, and claimed his place on the bi-plane.

"I don't think their going to give up Sonic" Tails said, a little worried. Tails did not like explosions.

"Then we'll have to stop them then." Sonic said excitedly, "Come on, I've got an idea"

Tails listened carefully to Sonic's plan, it was risky, but he conceded that it was the best idea. At this point, Bean began to throw more bombs at Sonic. With carefully timed jumps, and some skilled flying on Tails' part, the pair managed to avoid every one of Beans bombs. Tails began firing the machine guns, merely to try and distract Bean and Bark, the polar bear pilot of the bi-plane. It was Sonic who managed to catch one of Beans bombs, and decided just as the pair of planes crossed beside one another to drop it into the back of the plane. The pair of planes had turned to face one another, and just as the purple bi-plane began to head towards them, there was a loud explosion, and the tail of the plane was blown off, the plane itself began to head back towards the ground, Sonic saw Bark open an emergency parachute, as he bailed out, and proceeded to fall slowly to the ground. Bean, who was a duck, and could therefore fly anyway, began to fly close around Bark, and Sonic could hear them both yelling at each other over why they were carrying bombs on a bi-plane, and whose fault it was. The Tornado began to head towards the Floating Island.

* * *

_Why did Bean and Bark attack Sonic? What will happen on the Floating Island? There's only one way to find out, keep reading  
_


	9. Emerald inspection

_The story so far: Sonic and Tails have got passed Bean and Bark to get to the Floating Island, and the history of the Emeralds was explained_

* * *

"No! not again, please I'll do anything, just don't do it again!" it was that familiar voice again, yet again pleading for mercy. "Please Sonic save me, the Chaos Emeralds, I need help Sonic" the voice continued, the panic heightened. "The compressor, it needs to be turned off now Sonic, before I - I" the voice trailed off into a constant scream of pain before going quieter and eventually disappearing. Robotnik's eyes slowed open, this was the first time he'd had this dream to its conclusion, yet he still could not place what exactly this dream contained, or what it was about. 

Robotnik awoke in a medical unit, of the Metropolis Zone, one of the advantages of being the only living creature in an empire, was that there was no wait for him for anything. A team of medical robot's surrounded him, assessing his condition, while he lay their, the robots beeped at one another as they registered his consciousness. Robotnik was fine; there was no injury to him. The robot's informed him that he was free to leave the medical unit, a suggestion Robotnik took. He made his way out the room he was in, and towards one of his Egg-O-Matic's which was waiting for him outside. He began to make his way back to his lab, passing by various industrial districts as he went. Robotnik pieced together the last few things he did before he found himself in the medical unit. He had been inspecting the Chaos Emerald, why he could not remember, but he was inspecting it. He remembered being shocked, and then he had blacked out. He could remember being shocked the first time, and the odd feeling of pain it had brought him. He continued his flight back, it had been raining again, and Robotnik could see some of the rust on his beloved machinery. Taking the quickest route possible, Robotnik made his way back to his lab.

Robotnik looked at the clock upon his return, seven hours had passed. This annoyed Robotnik as it meant he was now behind his meticulously timed schedule. Easing himself into his chair, Robotnik placed on a pair of goggles, and pressed a button on the side. Clutching a bizarre looking device with multiple ends, designed to inspect things, Robotnik set himself up ready to inspect the Chaos Emerald, when he realised that he did not have the emerald. He searched his desk furiously for it, overturning piece after piece of scientific equipment. It was not there. Robotnik thought for a moment, he had fallen to the floor, maybe it was still there. He looked down, and around to his side, without any joy. Robotnik kept looking, still no luck. Struggling against his bulk, Robotnik got up, and sat back at his desk. He began to tap at his computer. Within moments the little droid designed to keep the lab tidy emerged. Robotnik fed it an image of the emerald from his computer. The robot beeped as if to confirm its task, and disappeared into its hole. Moments later it emerged, clutching in its metallic claw a shiny red gem. Greedily Robotnik snatched the gem from the robot's claw, and beckoned it away. Dutifully the robot obliged, and went back to its hole, while Robotnik went back to prying at the emerald, this time being more careful. There was a buzzing noise. Robotnik looked up, towards his computer, someone was contacting him.

"What do you want" snapped Robotnik, annoyed at this disruption. He was already behind schedule, and did not need to be delayed further. "This had better be important."

There was a pause, slowly the caller responded. "Sir the hedgehog and his fox accomplice have been spotted over the Scrap Brain Zone. They were headed north, towards the current location of the Floating Island."

"How long ago was this?" enquired Robotnik. He may have been busy, but news of Sonic heading to where he had been less than 24 hours ago meant to Robotnik, that Sonic might have an idea something was up. As good as this plan was; the last thing Robotnik needed was for his adversaries to gain any sort of advantage.

"three minutes, sir." the voice responded calmly "they were in there biplane, when they were spotted."

"Keep watch" commanded Robotnik, "I want to know the moment they leave the Floating Island." The screen went black again, and Robotnik smiled slightly. The gears were coming together in his little plan. Soon, Robotnik thought, Sonic would be defeated, and then nothing would stop him from taking his place as the ruler of Mobius. He just needed to be careful, there was always the chance his plan could be foiled. For now Robotnik decided it was best to stay casual, and let his spy's watch what was going on for him. After all, he already had an emerald, what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

_Just what is Robotnik's master plan? Who has he been talking to? There's only one way to find out, keep reading  
_


	10. Emerald chaos

_The story so far: Sonic & __Tails got passed Bean & Bark, all the while Robotnik's spies have been watching_

* * *

Tails was a bit shaky after the duel with Bean and Bark, Sonic, on the other hand, was calm, and eager to get to the Floating Island. They got there a few minutes after there scrap, and landed the Tornado in an open area several yards inland of the Island. The pair raced to the emerald chamber, casually jumping pits, and dodging the odd trap as if it was a walk in the park. Within moments they had reached the emerald chamber, and the moment they had, Knuckles had his paw around Sonic's throat. 

"Where's the Emerald?" yelled Knuckles, squeezing Sonic's throat hard enough for Sonic to begin gasping for air. "Hand it over right now, and I'll let you walk away unscathed."

Tails couldn't stand to see this, Sonic was his best friend, and Knuckles was trying to kill him. Without giving it any thought, Tails leapt onto Knuckles. "Get off of him!" he yelled, before Knuckles threw him off. This was enough of a distraction Sonic needed, and without a moments hesitation Sonic curled up into a ball, sending Knuckles flying towards the emeralds. With a spin dash, Sonic quickly rolled towards Knuckles. Knuckles jumped to the right, and watched, as Sonic smashed into one of the emerald pedestals. Realising what he had done, Sonic jumped into the air and grabbed the dark blue emerald that had become dislodged.

Knuckles eyes lit up with rage. "Put that emerald down now, you thief." he'd already lost one Emerald, to who he didn't know, but Sonic's actions made him believe it had been Sonic all along. After all, who else could circumnavigate all the Floating Islands traps, other than Sonic. Knuckles lunged at Sonic, knocking him backwards. Sonic tried to fight back, but Knuckles would not relent. Acting on impulse, Sonic threw the Emerald at Tail. Tails caught it, slightly surprised. Knuckles began to charge directly at Tails, fists first. In shock, Tails threw the emerald back, just as Sonic had hoped. Sonic caught it, and ran at Knuckles, hitting him with a spin dash that sent him flying forwards. Tails leapt out of the way just in time to avoid a collision.

"I don't have any of the emeralds Knucklehead" Sonic said, before adding, "well aside from this one" Sonic grinned as he showed off the Blue Emerald he still held. Knuckles got up again, and jumped at Sonic. Sonic bounced back, landed, and then jumped, curling into a ball as he did, and hit Knuckles with a spin dash. The echidna was knocked down, and lay on the ground for a few moments.

"He's telling the truth." Tails yelped. "We only came here because Sonic heard a voice while under the Floating Island last night, and he wanted to know if everything was okay." Tails' voice was ignored, and Knuckles responded with a spin dash that sent Sonic flying. Sonic got up, and ducked a punch from Knuckles that knocked part of the wall away. There was some sort of chamber in there.

"Did you think to look in there for your missing emerald?" Sonic teased. Knuckles continued to swipe at Sonic, fuelled by rage. Sonic continued to duck, and after a couple of punches, Sonic was able to retreat back into the chamber. Knuckles ran after Sonic, with Tails following closely behind. Knuckles glided straight into Sonic, knocking him flying. Sonic rubbed his face; that last collision had hurt. Knuckles made another glide for Sonic. The exact moment before Knuckles hit Sonic; however, Sonic curled up into a ball, and started revving. Knuckles was sent flying into some ancient machinery. A bright light flickered where Sonic was stood, and Sonic began to disappear, still holding the Blue Emerald. Tails and Knuckles both watched as Sonic's body faded out of sight.

The light which had caused Sonic to disappear was still there, Knuckles jumped into it, eager to get back his Chaos Emeralds, with Tails following closely behind, following Sonic as always. The pair disappeared like Sonic had, and re-emerged on a set of old ruins. Knuckles recognised the place as the Sky Sanctuary Zone. "Where are you Sonic? Hand over the emerald now!" Knuckles ordered. They was a silence. For a few moments there was no noise except for that of the wind. Tails yelled out for Sonic, there was still no response. Tails looked to his left and saw the Floating Island; they were a good few miles from it.

"This place can't rise can it?" Tails asked Knuckles slightly nervously.

"No, why should it?" Knuckles responded, not exactly sure what the orange fox was getting at. "This place only stays afloat thanks to leftover Chaos energy from centuries ago. There is no steering mechanism like there is on the Floating Island."

"But this place is stable in altitude, right?" continued Tails, trying to satisfy his curiosity.

"Pretty much so" answered the red echidna, his dreadlocks flapping about gently with the wind.

"Then the Floating Island is sinking!" yelped Tails, finally making his point understood to Knuckles. Knuckles starred in disbelief, as the island began to sink in front of his eyes. Without at least one of the two missing emeralds he had no way of keeping the island in the sky, yet if the island were to crash the rest of the emeralds, would be scattered, and he would be stranded here in the Sky Sanctuary Zone. The drop was too much for him to glide down, and there was no way Tails could stay in flight that long. Of course, if he returned to the Island, and landed it safely, he would lose Sonic, and potentially the blue emerald. Knuckles had to make a decision as to what he was going to do.

* * *

_What will Knuckles do? Where is Sonic? There's only one way to find out, keep reading  
_


	11. Hanging by a thread

_The story so far: Robotnik has been informed by his spies of what's going on, as Sonic has dissappeared with a Chaos Emerald  
_

* * *

It was fair to say that Bark had not enjoyed this experience. Closing the lid of his communication device all he could do was dangle, hanging by the threads of his parachute from a rusted crane in the Scrap Brain Zone. He was about twenty feet from the ground still, and his only hope of getting down safely, laid with his partner Bean. Bark was, in his own opinion, up a creak, without a paddle. He contemplated the drop for a second, wondering if he could drop down, before deciding against such an action. He had sent Bean to try and find a way to get him down, partially so he could send a progress report to his boss, and partially so he could just have a few minutes peace and quiet to himself, even if he was dangling above the ground uncomfortably. Bark looked around; all he could see was rusted metal, the ruins of giant factory. Scrap brain, he thought, was an appropriate name for this place. The Scrap Brain zone of course, didn't always look this way; it was once a pristine factory that ran like clockwork. It was only now that the place was in ruins, that the name Scrap Brain seemed fitting. Bark had been dangling for nearly twenty minutes, when Bean returned, with a large pair of shears, suggesting he could cut Bark down. Bark had declined the offer, suggesting instead that Bean get underneath him so that Bark could use Bean to cushion his fall. Bean had taken that as a hint to keep searching. 

A drop of water hit Barks ear, this made him twitch slightly. He looked up to see that it was beginning to rain. As he tilted his head, his brown hat slipped off his head. Bark watched it fall to the ground, cursing slightly as his favourite hat landed in a patch of oil. It was then that he heard it. There was a faint rumble in the background. Bark panicked slightly, he had heard stories of badniks still being operational. Bark didn't like badnik's having been made into one himself not too long ago. This, of course, was before he fought Sonic directly. Bark was slightly annoyed; Sonic had now beaten him twice, even if the second time wasn't exactly his fault. Bark wondered why Bean had insisted on putting spare bombs in the plane when he often just pulled them from what he had dubbed "pocket space", the space where items go when they are not in use. Bark didn't know how pocket space worked, or even who invented it, but he found it to be rather useful. Bark cursed Bean for not thinking of using pocket space, before wondering where Bean had got to. The rumbling had steadily been growing louder; whatever was causing it was getting closer. Bark looked to the source of the noise. There was a large platform with wheels moving towards him. Bark panicked slightly before hearing a familiar voice.

"Yo! Bark you still there?" Bean asked unsure of himself.

Bark immediate reply was something long the lines of "Of course I am still hear, you dolt. What did you think; I flew over to the Green Hill Zone and am now sipping Lemonade under a palm tree?"

Bean looked puzzled. "But I can see you there, your dangling by your parachute. Asides, I thought polar bears couldn't fly?" Bark gave Bean a vicious look and would've smacked him for that had he been able to.

"Bean, you're an idiot." was Barks response, almost monotone through the amount of times he'd said it to Bean. "just get me down from hear" commanded Bark, still unsure as to what Bean was doing driving this large platform, or even when Bean learned to drive such a device.

The vehicle was positioned underneath Bark, and Bean got out of the Drivers seat. Bean Looked up at Bark and smiled slightly. Bark gave bean a look that said 'hurry up already' and Bean continued, heading over to some obscure buttons and dials. The platform began to rise, and it was then that Bark realised that it was actually a cheery picker that Bean had managed to get hold of. Bark watched the platform rise up to him, and freed himself of his parachute, landing with a slight thud on the platform of the cherry picker.

"Okay Bean, you can lower it now" commanded Bark.

"Umm… I can't" yelled Bean back, "the cranes stuck"

"what do you mean 'stuck'?" Bark asked calmly, ignoring Beans inability to tell the difference between a cherry picker and a crane.

"well, I mean it won't go down." Bean answered calmly

"And how am I supposed to get down Bean?"

"You said to get you out of the parachute without you falling to the ground."

"And now what am I s'posed to do? Play solitaire?"

"You can't. you don't have a deck of cards" Bean answered, missing the point.

Bark growled at him and wondered what he had done to get paired up with an idiot like Bean. Bark only had one choice; he had to climb down the cherry picker. He began to make his climb down slowly. Bark wasn't fond of climbing really; it was not something he was good at. He managed to get about a third of the way down, when the cherry picker shook.

"Hey it does go down." yelled Bean excitedly.

"Bean you numbskull" Bark yelled, as the platform lowered, with him dangling from the side of the elevating part. He had to jump off; otherwise he'd get crushed as it went down. Bark waited a moment, and with closed eyes, he jumped off the cherry picker, rolling as he landed. He got up, partially covered in oil. He found his hat in the puddle he'd landed in.

"You going bald?" asked Bean.

Bark gave Bean a look that made him stop talking. Wiping some of the oil from it, Bark placed his hat back on his head. Despite it being soaked in oil, it was better than the world knowing of his baldness. He tried to rub some of the oil out of his fur, failing mostly; he really would have to wash when he had a chance to. Bark would never admit to it, but he was a very vain polar bear, priding himself on his clean, if somewhat rough looking hair. His scarf was always clean, and he regularly kept his boots polished. He had worn his hat for a while, it was only when he noticed his fur begin to thin that he refused to be seen without it.

The pair began to move onwards. They didn't intend to be stuck in the Scrap Brain zone for any longer than they had to be. Bark couldn't tell how Bean felt; he was a difficult duck to judge the temperament of. One minute he'd be happy go lucky, the next down, and the next he'd be throwing bombs like he was trying to get everything destroyed. Bark would never tell Bean it, but he often worried about Bean's mental state. Of course Bark was never afraid for himself being in the company of Bean, if he knew one thing about Bean was that, despite his unpredictable nature, and the amount of fighting the pair did, Bean would have Bark's back should he ever need it. Right now Bean was humming a piece of music, and it was bugging Bark for two reasons, one because Bean couldn't hum to save his life, with notes all over the place, and incredibly out of rhythm, and two because despite this, Bark swore he knew what it was but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Bark had no idea how to get out of the zone. Since everything looked the same, Bark decided the best route would be to just head as far forwards in one direction as they could, and get out of there. Of course this was easier said than done, as the place was huge, and travelling through all the traps, broken machinery, and general chaos of the place was rather difficult. Through some blind luck, and clever skill they had made it this far through the zone alive. It became apparent after an hour though, that it would take them longer than expected to get out of the zone. Bark decided that they should stop, he didn't particularly want to, but Bean's constant moaning had got the best of what patience he had left. The pair stopped in a secluded spot where Bark thought they would be safe from any approaching Badniks. Despite the fact that they were now resting, as Bean had wanted them to, Bean was still complaining, this time about being hungry. Sarcastically Bark suggested that Bean fly back to where they had crashed to find the food Bark had had in his backpack before they crashed. Bean, unable to tell the sarcasm was about to head back, when Bark grabbed his ankles and stopped him. Bean finally twigged that Bark did not mean for him to go off, and decided to sit down. There was a loud click, and then a whirring sound, as the ground the pair were stood on collapsed, sending them into the water bellow.

* * *

_Who was Bark talking to? What's going to happen to the pair of them now? There's only one way to find out, keep reading  
_


	12. Everything is under control I think

_The story so far: Sonic has disappeared with one of the Chaos Emeralds. Meanwhile Bean & Bark are trapped in the Scrap Brain Zone_

* * *

Tails was confused, both he and Knuckles had followed Sonic through the light, and while he and Knuckles had ended up at the same place, Sonic was nowhere to be found. Tails had suggested that he look for Sonic while Knuckles stopped the island from crashing, which Knuckles had ruled out, convinced that Tails would help Sonic escape with the emerald. Knuckles suggested that he would search Sky Sanctuary for Sonic; until Tails pointed out that he had no clue how to fly the Floating Island. Knuckles sighed, before taking Tails back to the Floating Island. Knuckles took point, leading Tails to the control room of the Floating Island. 

The control room was full of complicated machinery, some of it old and ancient. Tails recognised a few items as of Robotnik's design, and jumped onto one of the consoles

"Whad'ya think your doing?" yelled Knuckles, angry and somewhat perplexed by Tails' actions. Tails explained to Knuckles that the machine he had just smashed up allowed Robotnik to have a certain amount of control of some of the Floating Islands defence features. Knuckles' gave a look of concern, before getting back to the task at hand. It wasn't easy going, as Knuckles didn't fully understand how the Island actually stayed afloat he just knew it was connected to the Chaos Emeralds somehow, and without all of them, there was a risk of the island falling back to the ground. Tails started to exam some of the levers and dials, and began to ask Knuckles what they all did. Knuckles didn't know for half of them, something which bothered Tails, as Knuckles had spent all his life on this island, responsible for it, and he didn't know what all the controls in the control room did. Tails wondered about what Knuckles' parents knew of the island, and how much of this information was lost on Knuckles.

The island was beginningto shake violently; the pair had no choice but to land it. Knuckles had showed Tails where the main controls where for the island. Tails looked over them, they looked simple enough. Tails told Knuckles he could do it, and began to try to stabilise the island. Knuckles ran outside the control room, realising that while Tails could control where the island was headed, he couldn't actually see anything. There was some loud thudding, before a hole appeared in the side of the control room. Tails soon realised that Knuckles was making an opening for Tails to see where he was headed. Within moments there was a large opening, and Tails could see where the island was headed. Knuckles told Tails that they were currently above the Marble Hill Zone. Tails had been here before, and he knew that he not only had to clear that to land the island in the only safe place for it, the ocean, but he also had to clear the Green Hill Zone, and by some considerable distance to avoid destroying anything in the tidal wave that would result from the landing of the Floating Island. Tails pulled his gloves on tight, wiggling his fingers slightly as he did. Doing this would take all his concentration, but with the power of at least five emeralds Tails was sure it could be done.

Knuckles ran in alarmed, and began yelling about the speed of decent. Tails tried his hardest to slow down the island, but it was no use, gravity was winning. Tails diverted as much power as he could to the forwards momentum, it was a long shot, Tails thought, but if could kick enough power, he could throw the island clear of the Green Hill Zone. The island shook violently as he did, as if to disagree with Tails' plan. Regaining himself, Tails fired up all the boosters, there was nothing more he could do now but watch and hope

* * *

A pair of Flickys sat atop of a tree, one green the other blue in colour, just chirping away, without any real purpose when from out of nowhere a giant island the size of a continent roared past overhead, this sent the Flickys flying, as the island landed with a loud crash that destroyed much of the first third of the Green Hill Zone. For the most part the island had cleared South Island, but the edge of the island had landed atop part of the Green Hill Zone, destroying much of it in the process. Palm trees, and large chunks of rock lay strewn everywhere. From within the Control room the Tails stood up slowly. He wasn't too badly injured, just a few bruises. Tails was slightly puzzled, he was sure they had enough energy to clear the island, after all they had five emeralds, stabilising the Master Emeralds power. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough power to clear South Island at the very least from where they were. Knuckles had already gone back to the emerald chamber. Now that the island was on the ground again, there was an increased risk of people trying to steal an emerald or five. Tails made his way back, hoping Knuckles wouldn't be mad at him for crashing the island. Tails had tried his best; it was just that his best hadn't been good enough.

"I thought we could clear it with five Chaos Emeralds power" Tails said slowly to Knuckles after arriving back at the emerald chamber. "I was sure we…"

"We would've" Knuckles said angrily, "if we had had five emeralds, but we don't." Knuckles wandered round and picked up the green emerald off the floor where it had fallen.

Tails for once didn't follow what was going on. When he had arrived at the Floating Island earlier, Knuckles said he had lost one emerald. Sonic then disappeared with one leaving five. Tails' mind wandered slightly, he had no idea what had happened to Sonic, and worried that he was in trouble. What if he didn't land on the Sky Sanctuary Zone, and fell to his death, thought Tails, before stopping himself. He couldn't think like that, he wouldn't allow himself to, Sonic was alive; he just knew it. Tails asked Knuckles what he was on about.

Knuckles threw the green emerald to the floor. It landed with a thud, denting the floor slightly with the force with which it was thrown, but leaving the emerald unscratched. Knuckles then picked up the pink emerald, and did the same. There was another thud, making Tails flinch slightly, as the emerald rolled across the floor undamaged. Tails could see Knuckles was really mad, Knuckles would never throw the emeralds like that without good reason. Knuckles then picked up the red emerald. He looked at it for a moment; then looked at Tails knowingly. Tails looked back blankly, unsure of what Knuckles was getting at. Knuckles held the emerald out to his side, and casually let go. The emerald fell to the floor, shattering on impact.

"It's a fake" Knuckles said calmly, disturbing Tails in the way he said it. "The others are real. There were only four real emeralds on the island when we crashed, Pink, Green, Orange and Grey, there real."

"Well that explains it then" muttered Tails, before adding "so where is the real red emerald then?"

"I think you already know that one!" Knuckles said loudly, before charging straight at Tails with fists extended.

* * *

_What will happen to Tails now? Just where is Sonic? There's only one way to find out, keep reading_


	13. Platform perils

There was a splash, and Bean went under. Bean quickly brought himself to the surface. It was times like these that being a duck paid off for him. Bean began to look round for Bark, wondering if he had fallen at the same time. Bean checked to his left, no Bark. He looked to his right, still no polar bears. Bean turned round in the water, and became distracted by something shiny. Bean stared at it for a moment transfixed by it. He didn't see anything special by its shininess, but it was shiny, and that was as good a reason as any to look at it. His head tilted slightly, his gaze transfixed by the shiny object on the wall behind him. It was then that he remembered suddenly about Bark. Shaking his head he kept looking. He ducked his head underwater for a moment, and saw Bark bellow, struggling for air. Bean dived down, and mustering up his strength, pulled Bark up. The water they were in was still, albeit purple. Bean pulled Bark towards the nearest area not submerged in the water, a small platform several feet to his left. Bean carefully lifted Bark onto the platform, and laid him on his back. Bark didn't appear to be breathing. Bean stopped for a moment and thought; he knew there was a way to get Bark awake again. Bean thought, he remembered something about kissing, and blowing air, before his mind wandered onto mittens. Shaking his head again, Bean suddenly remembered.

"CTR!" Bean yelled; feeling slightly confused as to what bandicoots had to do with breathing. Nevertheless Bean began to perform CPR on Bark, with all the skill of a paramedic. Pumping at his chest, Bean then proceeded to place his beak around Barks mouth and blow, as he remembered to do from somewhere. After a few moments, Bark spluttered, and awoke, to find Bean blowing into him. Bark sat up, and Bean continued pounding at Barks chest.

"What are you doing?" Bark said, still being hit by Bean

"I'm performing CPU" said Bean in response, "now lie down so I can make you become conscious."

"Bean, you're an idiot" Bark said calmly, before adding "why continue if I am conscious already?"

"Because I'm trying to save your life" Bean said, unaware he'd already succeeded in his task. Bark's immediate response to this was to raise his left fist, and swing it in a motion that made it connect with Bean's head, knocking him into the water bellow. Bean re-emerged from the water just in time to see Bark readjust his hat, and scarf. Bean spat out some of the water he had nearly swallowed, it tasted like a combination of sewage and industrial cleaner. Bean then clambered back atop the platform and sat next to Bark as he looked around. Bark asked where they were, to which Bean had replied sat atop a platform. Bean received another smack for this.

"Wherever we are, it smells like sewage in here" Bean said in a random display of common sense, before ruining it by adding "a large chemical sewer, with added chilli sauce."

Bark gave Bean a puzzled look. Bean took no notice; Bark always gave that sort of look when Bean had said something he thought made sense. Over the years Bean had learnt that it meant Bark thought he was wrong, and nine times out of ten, when Bark thought Bean was wrong, he had been. Despite this, Bean was now wondering himself where he and Bark were. One minute they were in a ruined factory, the next they were here. Bean was confused, and slightly wet still from being in the water. He decided he'd been on his feet for long enough and began to fly about. Bean didn't really understand how he flew, and every time he tried to think about it, it made his head hurt. All Bean knew was that he could, and it seemed handy to be able to do it. Bean suggested he went to look around for a way out. He knew that Bark couldn't swim, so unless he could find a way to either move the floating platform Bark was stood on, or find some sort of boat to get them out of there, Bark would be stuck. Bean didn't like that idea, Bark was the only one who kept the voices at bay, the only method Bean knew of coping was to be with Bark. Bean never told Bark, but he needed Bark.

Bean left Bark on the platform, and heard him mumble something about rotten luck having to have Bean for his only hope of safety for the second time in as many hours. Bean flew off, in no particular direction; unsure of what it was he was actually looking for. Dodging past a few swinging spiked balls; he made his way into the depths of the Scrap Brain Zone sewers.

Bean had been flying around for nearly two hours. Tired and hungry, he stopped. He'd found the way out of the sewers, and back into the main part of the Scrap Brain Zone at the very least, and was sure he could trace the route back to Bark. As luck had had it, he'd found himself in a dock, with three submarines held above the water. Looking over them Bean decided the middle one would be best, unsure exactly how he knew that. Lowering it with the cranes (or cherry picker as he thought) controls, he carefully got inside and started to make his way back. Bean got into the submarine, and decided now would be a good time to eat something. Searching through pocket space he found a half eaten tuna sandwich, munching on it, he got out his communicator, and rang Bark.

"I found a submarine!" he yelled excitedly into it.

"Well come and get me then" Bar yelled, it was obvious to Bean that he was mad, but Bean couldn't tell if he was mad at Bean, or just angry. it was hard for Bean to tell sometimes.

"I'm coming already, hold your hat on" Bean said, before realising Bark wore a hat. Bean found this funny and giggled. With that he closed the communicator, and looked at the controls.

After getting lost for another half hour, Bean had made his way back to where he had come from. He raised the submarine so he could climb out of it, and yelled for Bark. There was no reply. Bean yelled again, to get the same response. Bean stepped out of the submarine and back onto the platform, wondering if somehow he'd got the lost again. Bean didn't like this, he was not very good with directions, and knew Bark wouldn't be able tell him which way to go. He looked to the ground slightly when he saw it, there was a red scarf hanging off the edge of the platform. Panic struck Beans brain, and without thinking, bean dived into the water, and began to search for Bark. Bean kept looking, coming up for air every now and again, but there was no sign of him. Bean rang Barks communicator, hoping to have Bark answer, or at the very least, hear it, and find Bark, or some clue to where he was. Bean got neither, he couldn't hear the communicator ring, and there was no response from it. Bean began to panic. Bark was gone, and Bean was running out of ideas on how to find him. Bean clutched at his head. His eyes began to tear up, he was confused and alone. That's when he heard it. Softly at first, but increasing in volume. It was all around him, and Bean knew all to well what it was. The incessant noise haunted him. Bean clutched at his ears

"I am the Eggman" he began to sing, "That's what I am. I am the Eggman, I've got the master plan" he sang it loudly, to drown out the noise. It didn't matter to him that what he was singing was Robotnik propaganda, it was all he could think of at the time, and he needed to blot it out. He closed his eyes, and sang louder. Bean was scarred, and just wished they would go away. He hated when they showed up, and didn't want them to be here while Bark was missing. Bean was vulnerable. He began to rock back and forth, as he sat on the floor, just wishing them away.

There was a crash to his left. This was enough to make Bean jump. One of the walls nearby had collapsed, exposing another area. Thinking this might be were Bark was, he made his way over, relieved that this had distracted them for long enough for him to get away. Bean peered into the hole in the wall. There was no sign of Bean. However something else caught Beans eye, a large emblem on the wall. It seemed to show Robotnik, but it clearly wasn't Robotnik, Bean thought, unless Robotnik had lost a lot of weight, and shaved his moustache. Bean held out a hand to it, wondering what such an emblem was doing in a place like this. Before he could touch it though, he heard them again. They were coming back. Bean collapsed to the floor, here there was no way he could escape them.


	14. Into the nothingness again

Slowly opening his eyes, Sonic looked around. The last thing he remembered was that he was fighting Knuckles, and had stood in this bright light. Sonic remembered about the blue Chaos Emerald he was holding, he checked his hands, it was gone. Sonic looked at where he was, it was rather odd, full of nothing, as it were. Sonic felt a little uneasy about it.

"Great" he said, slightly annoyed yet also disappointed. "I'm back in the nothingness again. Haven't been here for a while now." Sonic was aware of this nothingness from an earlier adventure. It had led him to an alternate reality. Sonic thought for a moment, would he end up back in the fourth dimension? Sonic still wasn't sure how he remembered that, as it never technically happened, but it was certainly one of his more absurd battles with Robotnik, and it was also nice to meet up with old friends. Sonic sighed slightly, the memories of friends lost starting to get him down. Sonic laid back; enjoying the feeling of weightlessness. Despite having just lost a Chaos Emerald, Sonic remained calm, he was in the nothingness between dimensions; there really wasn't anything he could do but wait, so there was no point worrying. Sonic instead chose to think about what had led him to this, first he hears a voice calling out for help from Knuckles, then Knuckles goes on about loosing a Chaos Emerald, before he became teleported to who knows where. Sonic let out another sigh.

Although it didn't feel like it, Sonic was sure some time had passed, how much he had no idea, or even if the concept of time existed in the nothingness, all he knew was that he was there, trying to figure it out would require intelligence greater than his, he admitted to himself, slightly relieved that no-one was around to hear it.

"Well look what we have here" said a voice from out of nowhere "Erinaceus Europaeus."

Sonic looked startled. He was acutely aware that the voice was speaking in a different language to him, yet somehow Sonic understood it. The name that had been spoken, Sonic had heard that somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it. Sonic began to grow curious. He asked the voice who it was, and what it wanted. The voice didn't answer, choosing instead to speak when it wanted to, and say what it pleased. This annoyed Sonic slightly, it was obvious now that he was not in the nothingness he thought he was, and instead he was in a different nothingness. This nothingness obviously had no intention of letting Sonic go until it wanted to, and Sonic had no idea what the nothingness wanted. Sonic waited, it was all he could do.

Sonic thought it was about ten minutes since the voice had last spoke, before it spoke again. It began to explain something to Sonic, but this was too much for Sonic, and he didn't fully understand it.

"What I am trying to say Sonic" the voice said, deciding at last to clarify itself, "is that we, the servers of Chaos, need your help" Sonic hadn't noticed, but the voice had a different pitch to it now. "Knuckles is the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, but he can only do so much. You Sonic the Hedgehog, are the prophesised one, the one who can and has saved the world from the monster of Chaos on numerous times"

"Numerous times" Sonic said repeating the voice. "but I don't remember…"

"You are confused" the voice said interrupting Sonic. Sonic was disgruntled at this; this voice clearly wasn't making any sense. Sonic decided not to question it though, for now Sonic was trapped in its realm, the last thing he needed to do was make the voice angry. "The monster of Chaos is not what you think it is"

"Then what is it?" Sonic questioned, if he was to help the servers of Chaos, then he needed as much information as he could get. Sonic didn't like being left with so many unanswered questions, especially as he could easily have the answers he needed while he was here.

The voice suddenly became panicked "Oh no, it's back already" the voice spoke in a slightly more disturbed manner. "I can't keep you here any longer, without harming you. The evil energy I put in the emeralds would corrupt you further"

"Wait a second!" Sonic yelled, finally twigging "you're not Dr Kin…" there was a bright flash, and Sonic was dispelled from the nothingness.

"…tobor" Sonic finished, finding himself sat in the Sky Sanctuary Zone. He kicked at a pebble, there he had been with one of his oldest friends, and he didn't even realise it. That was typical, he thought. Sonic looked around, the moss covered ruins of the original home of the Master Emerald moved in there usual pattern. Sonic always found this swaying to be unnerving. Almost anything could send this place back to the ground, and at the height Sonic was at; that was not a good thing. Sonic had no idea how long he'd been in the nothingness, he only knew three things; one, the blue emerald he had held was no longer in his possession. This oddly did not bother Sonic, although he had not been told, he felt as if he knew that the emerald was somewhere safe. Sonic admittedly had no idea where this was, but he wasn't too worried, they would turn up as and when he needed them.

The second thing he was aware of was that he couldn't get back to the Floating Island. He tried to use every teleporter in the place to get back, not one of them co-operated with his wish, leaving him in the Sky Sanctuary Zone. Sonic realised as he was doing it that he couldn't actually see the Floating Island. He looked around himself. Not only could he not get back to the Floating Island, he couldn't actually see it.

The third thing Sonic was aware of was the large group of robot's heading straight for where he was.


	15. Anger mismanagement

**Apologies for the minor delay, I've been a bit busy with other stuff. in anycase, here is the next chapter.**

_The Story so far: Bean has become seperated from Bark. Meanwhile Sonic has been warned of the monster of Chaos._

* * *

The Floating Island was in a state of total disrepair. Trees were strewn about the place, some of the ruins had become even more ruined, and much of the place had the damage similar to that of an earthquake. Not that either of the two current occupants of the Floating Island had time to take in the full sight of the catastrophe. Knuckles just couldn't accept it; yesterday there were all seven Chaos Emeralds in the emerald chamber, and now, less than twenty four hours later he was down to just four. Knuckles knew Sonic had the blue one, he'd seen him disappear into the light with it. Knuckles also knew that the red one had been taken, as he had smashed it's duplicate on the floor, much to a startled Tails' shock. Knuckles wasn't too sure what had happened to the yellow one, one minute it was in the emerald palace with him, next thing he knew he had an odd dream, where the emerald had gone missing. The next thing he knew, he was back where it was, in the emerald chamber, without the emerald. 

Of course Knuckles wasn't much of a thinker, but he knew that if Sonic had one of the other emeralds, there was a good chance that he had the rest of the missing ones as well. Of course Sonic wasn't here at the minute; however his friend Tails was, which was why Knuckles suddenly threw himself at Tails fists extended. By the narrowest of margins Tails managed to avoid Knuckles' original swipe, and get airborne away from the enraged echidna. Knuckles was rather persistent though, launching himself off a hidden spring into the air. Grabbing Tails by the ankle, Knuckles forced Tails to the ground with a thud. Tails managed to swipe Knuckles off with his tails, all the time trying to reason with Knuckles. Knuckles wouldn't hear it though, choosing instead to let his fists do the talking for him.

"Tell me where the emeralds are and I'll go easy on you!" ordered Knuckles, throwing another punch at Tails.

"We don't have the emeralds" Tails shrieked back, panicked by Knuckles' rage. It didn't seem like there was much he could do to get away from Knuckles. Knuckles was getting angrier.

"You're lying!" Knuckles yelled back, fuelled by his own anger. Knuckles was beyond the point of being calmed down now, frustrated he let out a scream of rage, as he continued his assault on Tails. "I know you came back to get the rest. Tell me right now where the other three emeralds are."

"Sonic has the blue one, as you saw" Tails said trying to reason with him. "I don't know about the other two. I have a Chaos energy tracker back at my workshop though; I can use that to find the other two if you like"

"You'd like that wouldn't you. I sit here waiting for you to return. Meanwhile you keep the emeralds you already have. Well it ain't happening." Knuckles argued, determined to make someone pay for what had happened.

Knuckles wasn't however expecting Tails' response to this. Tails just turned around and began to run. Knuckles yelled at Tails, wanting to know where he was going, Tails said he was going to get the energy tracker from his workshop. Knuckles was fuming, he wasn't going to let Tails get away as he had Sonic. Knuckles told Tails he was gonna follow him, to find the other emeralds, until Tails countered with some simple logic; If Knuckles was chasing after Tails, who'd protect the remaining Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald? Knuckles was stumped by this, and was torn; should he let Tails escape or risk the safety of the remaining emeralds. Knuckles hesitated, before returning to the Emeralds, tail between his legs, and annoyed with himself.

Knuckles made his way back to the emerald chamber. He had chased Tails for the extent of a zone, and the trek back was rather depressing. Like it or lump it, he had to trust that Tails would find the Chaos Emeralds. Regardless, Knuckles' duty was to the Master Emerald. Though Knuckles knew of the power and value of the Chaos emeralds alone, the Master Emerald was more important than the rest of the Chaos Emeralds put together. Knuckles' anger was still there though, and he spent the overwhelming majority of his trip back to the Emerald Chamber smashing up some of the previously unbroken parts of the Floating Island.

Knuckles reached the emerald chamber and sighed, this had not been his day. He clambered back to his usual point atop the Master Emerald, and slowly closed his eyes, sighing as he did. He needed to cool down now if he was to continue his duty and protect the Master Emerald as well as the four remaining Chaos Emeralds that were in his possession. Knuckles once again ran everything through in his head, trying to figure out what exactly had happened. Finding this task confusing and a strain on his brain, Knuckles gave up, and looked to his left, he could see the tree that he had seen blown over in his dream, only it was lying on the ground. Knuckles followed the path it lay in; the cave which he couldn't find had returned. Knuckles sat upright, this was confusing him. Knuckles pinched himself, it hurt, so it couldn't have been another dream he thought. Knuckles stared at the cave for a moment, before dismissing it; he wasn't going to leave the emeralds for anything. Knuckles looked amongst them.

The next thing Knuckles said was unprintable here, although understandable considering he'd lost another Chaos Emerald.

* * *

_ Just where is the other Chaos Emerald? Will Knuckles ever get his all seven of them back? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	16. The white room

_The story so far: Sonic is trapped in Sky Sanctuary Zone. Meanwhile Knuckles has lost yet another Chaos Emerald_

* * *

Bark had decided that today was the winner of the 'worst day ever had' contest, which he had been mentally judging for a while now. Bark wondered to himself if he had fallen out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. That of course hurt in itself seeing as he was in the top bunk at the time. So far he'd been injured by Sonic, blown up by Bean's bombs, left hanging for a good half hour by the strap of a parachute, had got covered in oil, nearly drowned, and was now here. Not that he was sure where here was of course, whatever or whoever had taken him had snuck up from behind and had put a blindfold on him. Bark wasn't too sure how long he had been here, it had been about five minutes since Bean had contacted him, when he had been attacked, and Bark had been knocked out by his attacker. Bark remembered that he was in the Scrap Brain Zone, and started to worry, what if he was going to be made into a Badnik again? Bark didn't want to think about it, and instead focused his attention on escape. 

Finding his hands shackled, Bark began to fidget and contort his face. It wasn't easy, but Bark reckoned he could remove the blindfold. Once he could see, then he would know what he was up against, and try to make his escape. Bark twisted up his face and shook his head; eventually he'd managed to free himself of the view obscuring blindfold. He found himself slightly disappointed to find himself in a completely empty room. The room was white. White floors, white ceilings, white walls. There was one light, and it shone from the centre of the square room, giving some of the room a faint yellow tint, but otherwise the room was white. Opposite him there was what looked like a door, unsurprisingly white in colour. Bark wondered why the blindfold had been added; until it came to him that it was to stop him seeing how he got there as opposed to seeing the contents of the room.

Bark tilted his head up as far as he could, above him he could just about make out a speaker, hidden in whiteness. Bark tried to free himself of the shackles, with no joy. Sighing slightly, Bark tried to get a bit off sleep. It seemed a bit silly, but thanks to Beans decision to spend the night clucking like a chicken, Bark was tired, and uncomfortable as the current situation was, Bark would take any chance for a few minutes sleep.

Bark head a whirring, then a quiet click when he awoke. He looked ahead to find himself looking at what he assumed to be the eye of a robot. The robot itself was about the same height as Bark, and was crimson red. Bark kept staring at what he thought where it's green eye before noticing it's very sharp blades at the end of it's fists. This robot, Bark thought, was clearly designed for combat. There was an awkward moment as the robot just stood there, vacantly staring at Bark. Bark grinned slightly, trying his best to show confidence to whatever unknown forces were watching. Bark was however, rather unsettled, he had absolutely no idea what was going on, or why. Bark hated not to know all the details, so to have someone kidnap him, them lock him in this room with this robot, without any clue as to how or why he was there, was annoying him.

The robot beeped once. Bark tensed up, he was sure something was about to happen. There was a click, and the shackles, which had restrained Bark, opened up. Bark took a step forward from them, and rubbed his wrists, being restrained for so long had hurt. Bean put his fists up, he was more than ready for combat, being shackled for so long had made him rather frustrated, and he needed to vent his anger. Bark gave a grin; he wanted the robot to advance. The robot stood there, just watching. Bark realised that the robot probably didn't know it had to start. Bark was puzzled, he was sure that the robot had been there for him to fight. Bark shrugged, and began to make his way to the door. The robot continued to stand there, perfectly still, just looking at where Bark had been shackled. Bark gave a confused look, before shrugging, and putting his hand on the door. The robot made no response, still standing there motionless.

"Okay I give up, what's going on here?" Bark yelled walking away from the door. His curiosity had got the better of him now. It didn't make sense, this was clearly a robot built for battle, yet it was not battling; it wasn't doing anything. Bark walked around the robot, watching its eyes stare vacantly at where it had been, as he passed in front of them. Bark outstretched his paw, and placed it on what would be the robot's shoulder. The robot was cold to touch, but this didn't bother Bark at all. He nudged the robot. Without any resistance of its own, the robot simply fell over, laying there in a crumpled mess on the floor. The robot was not damaged at all, but it continued to lie there, motionless. It occurred to Bark at this point that he had not actually seen the robot move. Bark looked at how it had fallen; it had slumped to the side. There was one thing which worried Bark about it though; despite the change in position, the luminous green eyes of the robot where still focused on the same point. Bark was bewildered; just what was so special about that point. He wandered over to it, and outstretched his paw towards it.

There was a quiet click, then a whir. Bark turned round to see the small door open up. Bark left whatever the robot had been staring at, and walked towards the door. He carefully peered in; the room was identical to the room he had just come from, with what walls, floors, and ceilings. There was only one door in this room, and it was the one Bark was standing in. there was something in this room, however; a large pulsating purple sphere on a blue pedestal. Bark was very confused, with no means of entry or exit, how did he and this robot get here. Bark leant on the sphere, trying to think why he was here, and how he was going to get out. There was a blinding flash, and everything around Bark began to fade out of existence. This made Bark feel queasy, and he had to shut his eyes. He felt the floor bellow him disappear, and began to panic until he felt it reappear underneath him again, only it didn't feel right, it was rougher, more like soil than the smooth feeling the ground had had before it gave way. The sphere Bark had been leaning on had disappeared, and Bark opened his eyes.

Bark found himself in a cave, it was reasonably dark, but Bark could see the exit. The cave looked like it had recently been in an earthquake, and Bark didn't think hanging around inside was such a good idea. Edging his way forwards, over all the rubble, Bark slowly made his way towards the exit of the cave, still puzzled as to how he got here. Bark made his way into the sunlight, shielding his eyes from the brightness with his arm. Climbing over a fallen palm tree, Bark noticed before him a large green emerald, surrounded by a few other gems. Atop the large emerald sat a red creature, with red dreadlocks, and spiked gloves. Bark wasn't too sure what sort of animal this person was, he'd never seen anything like it for as long as he had lived on Mobius. Whatever it was though, it had a more than passing resemblance to the robot he had just seen while in the white room. The only real difference, as far as Bark could tell was that this one was clearly a living creature, and not a robot.

Bark said nothing. Whatever kind of creature it was, it was clearly rather mad for some reason. Bark stood there for a moment, wondering what to do. Avoiding conflict wasn't easy, and Bark was thankful Bean wasn't here. He could see it now; Bean would yell out to this creature, and it would attack the pair of them. Bark reckoned he could take this red creature in a one on one fight, but he didn't want to fight unnecessarily, and whatever it was that was bothering it, was not Barks business. Bark began to make his way away. There was a crunch, Bark had inadvertently snapped a twig underfoot. The red creature turned and noticed Bark.

The red creature just lunged straight at Bark, yelling something about chaos, and began to swipe at Bark. Bark cursed himself, wondering how many hours were left in the 'worst day ever had', as a punch connected with his jaw. Bark wished that Bean had been here to help him out now, as the creature gave him this beating.

* * *

_ Why was Bark captured? Just what was the robot looking at? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._  



	17. Robot rumble

_The story so far: Knuckles has successfully lost another Chaos Emerald. Meanwhile Bark has escaped capture._

* * *

Sonic, just stared, what had happened to the Floating Island, he wondered. Sonic didn't have time to look though, as a small fleet of robots flew towards him. Sonic made the obvious mental connection, they belonged to Robotnik. It was then that Sonic realised that that must be where the emeralds are. Sonic gritted his teeth, slightly puzzled as to why Robotnik didn't take all of them when he obviously had the chance to. A large missile flew past, narrowly missing Sonic. Sonic watched as it collided with a part of the Sky Sanctuary Zone, small chunks were blown off, and Sonic watched as they fell to the ground. Another two missiles were fired, and Sonic jumped the pair of those as well. Sonic landed, one hand on the floor, ready to jump. 

The first robot to get close enough was a simple Bird type robot, designed purely to be a nuisance. It flew towards at a reasonable speed, Sonic couldn't say how fast, knowing that was unnecessary. Sonic jumped, and curled, the robots steel shell fell apart like paper under the force of Sonic's spin attack, and there was a mild explosion. Another two identical robots flew in. Sonic jumped up onto one, and bounced off that through the second. Both robots exploded, with a small puff of smoke. Sonic landed backwards to a fourth, and ran halfway up a wall. Jumping off the wall, Sonic watched as it crashed beak first into the wall. Using this as a platform, Sonic leapt high into the air, and landed with another spin attack onto another one. Another missile flew by. Sonic ducked, and the missile collided with the robot stuck in the wall.

Sonic imagined Robotnik getting frustrated at this. Already Sonic had trashed five robots, and he had barely worked up a sweat doing so. Sonic ran forwards, and was propelled into the air by on of Sky Sanctuary's many hidden springs. A serpent like Badnik shot out from the wall, and Sonic was lucky not to get hit by it. Sonic grabbed the head of it, and as he had expected, the serpent robot tried to shake him off. Sonic used this shaking motion to his advantage, being sent flying into another bird type Badnik. Sonic looked down to see a missile collide with the serpent robot. Landing on a swinging platform, as it was the lowest point of its arc, Sonic waited a few seconds for it work its way forwards. From behind there was a whistling sound. Sonic turned round to see a missile collide with the chain of the platform. The speed at which the platform was swinging caused it to fly forwards. The platform landed with a thud, and Sonic rolled as he went forwards.

Another spring continued Sonic's roll, right off the edge of the platform. It was by pure luck that he hit another Badnik; otherwise he would've fallen to his death. An Egg-Robo appeared, carrying its traditional blaster. Without thinking, Sonic leapt up, curled and smashed it. Another missile flew by. Sonic was starting to get agitated by these, and began to run at the missile launching robot. Leaping over a couple of chasms, Sonic raced towards the Egg-O-Matic, piloted by another Egg-Robo. The Egg-Robo was, for the most part, a robotic Robotnik, however its head was a metallic grey, and rounder than Robotnik's. Sonic collided with it as hard as he could, but Sonic was aware it'd take more than a couple of hits to smash up an Egg-O-Matic. Sonic landed and immediately jumped up again, just as a missile hit the ground where he was standing. Sonic jumped up at the Egg-Robo, only to miss, as it swayed to the side.

Another flying Badnik appeared, and began to dart at Sonic. Sonic got a quick plan and jumped up. Sonic collided with the Egg-Robo, and held on, for a few seconds. The Egg-Robo tried to release Sonic, and after a few seconds Sonic let go, as the flying Badnik collided with the Egg-O-Matic. Sonic hit the ground running, chased by another flying robot. Running up the wall, Sonic twisted mid air, landed with a thud on the Egg-O-Matic, and bounced off, landing on the ground. He landed and turned round to see the Badnik collide with the Egg-O-Matic, the collision causing both to explode.

Sonic could imagine Robotnik's face, if it had been him in the drivers' seat, and not the Egg-Robo. Robotnik would've got very angry, and fled the scene to safety, twitching his moustache, and cursing as he did. Sonic was kinda disappointed that it wasn't Robotnik, he always did enjoy smashing up Eggman's stuff, Sonic thought smiling. This smile turned to a face of blind panic as two serpent type Badniks jumped from under the ground. Sonic jumped up into the air, and watch the pair cross over each other. Sonic landed to the left of them, ducked down, and began revving. Although he didn't have to, Sonic waited for when they were about to strike to release himself over them. With a couple of quiet bangs, the robots turned to scrap, as Sonic's fast spinning body ripped through them. Sonic stood up; all that remained was solitary Egg-Robo. With a quick sprint Sonic soon found himself next to it, and with one well placed spin attack, the Egg-Robo was out of action.

Sonic took a deep breath. After everything that had happened he finally had a chance to stop, and think. Sonic wasn't much of a thinker, but he appeared to be stuck in the Sky Sanctuary Zone, and with the Tornado on the Floating Island, and with none of the teleporters to the Floating Island working, Sonic was stuck. It was then Sonic realised that the Egg-O-Matic he'd trashed would've proved to be his escape root. Sonic sat down. He needed a way out, and soon, if Robotnik was up to something, being trapped in the sky wouldn't help. It was then that Sonic noticed a second squadron of Badniks. This was his ticket out of here, even if it was out to kill him. Sonic advanced towards them, ready to take out anything which would prove to be trouble.

Three more flying types were the first to be dispatched, with one jump Sonic knocked them out of the sky as if they were butter. A fourth attacked from the left, Sonic jumped to one side, narrowly dodging the bot by the tiniest of margins. It swept past, causing him to momentarily lose his balance. Sonic jumped atop its wings. The robot began to descend, it was clear this one couldn't take this kind of weight, Sonic used this as a platform to spin attack another Egg-Robo, while the flying Badnik crashed to the ground. Sonic saw another Egg-O-Matic. This was his one chance, if this one got blown up, then he was sunk, for who knows how long. Jumping over a set of spikes, Sonic proceeded to where the Egg-O-Matic was, finally finding his way there after several seconds. Dodging missiles as he ran, Sonic headed towards the Egg-Robo.

Another flying Badnik appeared, Sonic jumped as it headed towards him. Sonic landed with perfect accuracy on what would've been the head of the robot. It smashed, and Sonic landed on the ground surrounded by robot parts. Unfortunately Sonic didn't see the one behind, until it had caused him to lose his footing, and fall off the edge of the Sky Sanctuary Zone.

* * *

_ Will Sonic survive? Where did the Chaos Emerald end up? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	18. Not the nothingness

_The story so far: Bark has found himself in the company of a red creature. Meanwhile, Sonic has been knocked off the Sky Sanctuary Zone_

* * *

Clutching at his head, Bean found himself in the darkness. He hated it here; everything was too chaotic for him. This had not been the first time he had been here, but it was the first time where he wouldn't be able to have Bark free him from it as Bark had so many times in the past. Bean began to look round, when the voice started talking. 

"Long time no see," came the voice from behind Bean, its tone was unnervingly calm for Bean. Bean turned to face the voice; it was a similar looking duck to himself, almost identical except this duck had red feathers and a green bandana. "Come on now Bean, surely you must recognise me, Pin."

Bean starred at the duck, he had heard the name uttered before, but he had never actually met Pin before. This was all rather odd for Bean, and he just sat there for a moment. A small lit bomb rolled next to Bean. Bean realised this, and picked it up flinging it away, it exploded far off in the distance of the grey nothingness. Bean turned to face Pin, not quite sure what to expect. Pin looked back with a confident grin. Bean immediately drew one of his own bombs, and threw it straight at Pin. It exploded right in front of him, yet did no damage. Bean's jaw hit the floor. That had been a clear hit, and yet Pin hadn't even flinched.

"Was that necessary? You've ruffled my feathers." Pin said calmly, almost as if to wind Bean up. Bean stood up now, he knew Pin was bad news, and needed to deal with him soon, otherwise any hope of finding Bark would be lost.

"The bear is fine, albeit tied up right now." Pin said, as if reading Beans mind. Bean didn't know what to say to this, he didn't even feel as though he needed to. Pin just smiled. This crept Bean out. Bean couldn't place exactly what it was that Pin was too much of, but Bean was sure he was too much of it. Bean went straight for Pin with a pecking attack. No sooner than Bean had tried than Pin had picked Bean up in one of his hands. Pin now towered over Bean, holding him like a small bug.

"Don't you get it yet? I'm in control right now, you may not like it, but get used to it!" ordered Pin. Bean was placed back on what he assumed to be the ground. No sooner than he had than Pins normal sized hand reached onto Beans shoulder from behind. "You've had your fun for now, but I'm in charge of things from now on, so sit back and enjoy the ride."

Bean was perplexed; Pin had seemed to have taken over. Bean refused to stand for it, yelling as loud as he could he ran at Pin, tackling him down. The pair began to fight, before Bean slipped a bomb down Pins throat. The explosion sent Pin flying backwards, momentarily giving Bean the advantage. Bean took it and using a cherry picker, he lifted Pin into the air. Bean then flew up, and with a pair of giant scissors, cut the cherry pickers chord, sending Pin crashing to the ground bellow. Bean watch carefully, hoping that was the end of Pin. A hand rose up from underneath some rubble, Pin had survived. Bean flung a bomb at Pin, but Pin caught it and flung it back. Bean dodged it, but it blew up the cherry picker, and knocked it straight onto Bean. Bean saw small Flickies circle round his head for a few seconds, before he shook the cherry picker damage off.

"I dunno what you want from me, but this is my place, not yours, get out of here right now or else…" Bean threatened unconvincingly. Bean knew Pin was a threat, and he was pretty sure Pin knew it too.

"Or else what? What can you do? Kill yourself maybe?" Pin laughed, he knew there was nothing Bean could do, and without anyone there to help him on the outside, Bean didn't think he had much chance in here with Pin. Pin produced a large pink mallet, and whacked Bean over. Bean landed with a loud thud. From all around him, large metal bars began to rise up. Bean pulled at them, stretching them far enough to get out. Bean pulled out a stick of red dynamite. It sparked up instantly, despite the lack of a flame, and running as fast as he could, Bean proceeded to charge at Pin with it. Pin simple ducked, and watched Bean hit an invisible wall, there was an explosion, and Bean found himself lying on the floor covered in soot. Bean shook the soot off, and ran again at Pin, only to collide with another barrier.

"Your just not getting it are you?" Pin said calmly. "I'm back in control now, and you can't stop me. It's over for you now Bean." Pin launched a multitude of bombs at Bean, and despite his best efforts, every one of them found there target. Bean collapsed backwards; he fell to the floor, eyes closed.

Bean awoke some time later, to find himself in a cage. The cage was being held by Pin. Bean flapped about randomly, he needed out again. Pin just looked at him, and smiled. Placing Bean's cage down on the ground, Pin lent over him, and simply said "I'm gonna put you where you put me, only difference is, you won't get out again."

There was a loud crash, and a familiar looking blue hedgehog fell through the ceiling. There was another loud explosion, and bits off robot and vehicle showered down from above. The hedgehog shielded himself from the falling debris, before removing the last of the metal from around his wrists. The hedgehog gave a smile before looking around. "Worked perfectly," he said, before adding, "now where am I?"

The hedgehog looked at Bean, recognising him. He also saw that Bean was in trouble, and asked him if he was okay. There was no reply. "Are you okay Bean?" the hedgehog said in a worried tone.

"I'm fine," Bean said in response, "but my name is Pin not Bean."

* * *

_ What will happen to Bean now? Just what does Pin want? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	19. A familiar hum

Tails was relieved to get away from Knuckles, even if it was only for a short while. Knuckles had been furious at Tails. Not only had Tails managed to crash the Floating Island, but Knuckles was convinced that Tails had, or at least knew the location of, the missing Chaos Emeralds. Of course Tails didn't have any of them, and Sonic didn't have any other than the one he disappeared with. Tails' mind thought again about Sonic, just what had happened to him? Tails shook his head, flying the Tornado back to his workshop. Tails thought he saw a couple of Badniks as he flew but as he looked again, they weren't there. Tails shook his head; he must've been seeing things.

The journey back to the workshop had taken less than half an hour, partially added by the fact that the new location of the Floating Island was nearer to his workshop than it had been. Tails had been lucky to some extent, much of the Green Hill Zone was deserted, it had been every since there had been a weird explosion which sent trillions of rings all over the surface of Mobius. Tails had hoped that no-one had been killed by the crash, but he didn't know for certain. Tails fell silent; feeling remorse for whatever deaths he had inadvertently caused by crashing the Floating Island. It was an accident, Tails told himself, there wasn't much else he could do, if he had just let the Island fall, it would've landed on the Spring Yard Zone, perhaps the second most populated part of South Island. Tails had tried his best, but it hadn't been enough. Giving a silent prayer, Tails apologised for what he did.

Tails put on a determined face, if the Chaos Emeralds got into the wrong hands, then the casualties would be far greater than that of the Floating Islands crash. He walked into his workshop and stopped. The place had been trashed. Components lay everywhere, fuel was spilled onto the floor, blueprints had been shredded to pieces; the place looked as if it had been robbed. Tails wondered who could have done it, he had met a few thieves in his time, but there wasn't really anything of value to steal here, not in comparison to many other places nearby.

It was then that Tails heard it again. That quiet hum was back. Tails remembered the bug, and grabbed a large piece of scrap metal, to deal with it. He walked outside to face the new bug. It was only when he looked did the thought that it wasn't a bug crossed Tails' mind. Tails saw the source of the noise, six heavily armed robots. Shots began to fire, and a large missile flew straight past Tails as he ducked. There was a loud explosion, as a fuel canister blew up less than three feet away from Tails.

Tails tensed up, it looked like he'd have to deal with the robots on his own. Tails ran inside the workshop, and ran back out with a handful of devices. Tails put them into pocket space, still unsure as to where stuff in there actually went. Spinning his twin Tails, the fox became airborne. Weaving from side to side, to avoid incoming fire, Tails made his way to where they were. Tails knew he couldn't spin attack up here, otherwise he'd fall, but if he didn't do something, then who knows what else the robots would destroy.

Flying right up to the first robot, Tails began to attack them with the various items he'd picked up from the lab. Dropping a pickle to the ground, he swung a wrench at the enemy, it didn't do much damage unfortunately, and Tails wondered what sort of creature would be able to successfully damage a robot with a wrench. Dismissing these thoughts, Tails continued trying to attack the robots, but they were just too much, and eventually they wore Tails down. Tails was shot to the ground by a laser, from where he blacked out.

There was a maniacal chuckle which woke Tails up. His head hurt, Tails quickly realised it came from a speaker above. Tails found himself tied to a wall, in an entirely white room. There was a door in front of him, the only one leading into or out of wherever he was. Tails looked around him, there was no sign of where he was at all in here, and the room was completely empty. Tails' heart sank, he was well and true stuck now; it would take a miracle for him to be able to know where he was.

The door in front of him slid upwards, to reveal a familiar shape. A wobbling mass walked forwards, in black trousers, and a red shirt with large yellow collars. Its head was perfectly bald, save for a red moustache, and its eyes were covered by a pair of black glasses, it had a gleeful expression on its face. Tails recognised it instantly, as Dr Ivo Robotnik, genius, madman, and threat to the safety of Mobius.

"Well, what do we have here?" asked the doctor rhetorically, his moustache twitching as he spoke. "It looks like a mutated fox cub." Robotnik placed his hand to Tails' jaw as he spoke, his hands protected by gloves. Tails grimaced. Having Robotnik in front of him was not his idea of a good time, especially as Tails was the one tied up.

"That Echidna is probably looking for this," Robotnik said, as he revealed the Red Chaos Emerald from out of his pocket.

"So you're the one who took the missing emeralds then?" Tails said, the anger igniting his words.

"I assume he's realised that his version of the red one is a fake then." Robotnik said calmly. Tails remembered seeing the red one smash to pieces as Knuckles dropped it on the floor. Tails realised that Robotnik must've had the rest of the emeralds. Tails gritted his teeth. There wasn't really much else he could do

"The Emeralds are quite pretty actually, if you take the time to look at them." Robotnik began "Perfectly symmetrical emeralds; all multicoloured, thanks to the evil energy they posses. Completely chaotic, and if harnessed correctly, an unstoppable force." Robotnik took of one of his gloves, passing the emerald to his still gloved hand as he did so.

"So you're going to build another doomsday weapon out of them then?" Tails asked, hoping to get Robotnik to spill the beans as to what his plan was.

Robotnik took the glove into his gloveless hand, along with the Chaos Emerald. No sooner than he had, than there was a bright light. Tails shut his eyes as it happened; it was too much to look at. Tails looked back once the light had died down, to see just nothing but a glove where Robotnik once stood.


	20. Polar Perils

**The story so far (in bold because my computer is being dumb): Bean has been captured by Pin. Meanwhile Tails has also got captured**

Knuckles had initially dismissed the cave as unimportant. It was only when he saw the polar bear emerge from it he thought otherwise. Knuckles was too mad to even think anything other than that the bear had been the one to take the most recent of the missing emeralds. Knuckles had talked the bear to the ground, and was so furious he hadn't even realised that he had yet to form a sentence that made any sense. The bear swung Knuckles off with a clean kick, which sent him flying into a tree. Knuckles got up rubbing his head slightly, whoever this bear was, he was clearly a skilled fighter. The pair continued to exchange blows, Knuckles fuelled by rage.

"Look I've got no clue what your on about mate," said the bear, trying to end the fighting, "last thing I knew I was in this white room with this robot, who kinda looked like you thinking about it, and the next I touch this purple thing and I end up here." the bear finished.

Knuckles didn't listen. Instead he jumped up and smacked the bear with a gliding punch. The bear was knocked flying into one of the emeralds. He sat down, just waiting.

"Okay, I surrender" the bear said, surprisingly confidently.

"Where's the emerald then?" Knuckles snapped. He was beyond cooling down now.

"I told you, I have no idea."

Knuckles sighed, this wasn't going to work. "What's your name then?" Knuckles asked seeing what he could get out of the bear.

"Bark," Bark answered, "Bark the Polar Bear, he said straightening out his hat. "And you are?"

Knuckles thought for a moment, before deciding to answer. "The names Knuckles."

Knuckles watched as Bark looked at him, it was clear to Knuckles that Bark was up to something, but for now Knuckles was going to let it slide. If Knuckles was to get anything from this bear, then he'd have to choose his words carefully.

There was an awkward moment. Neither Bark nor Knuckles said anything, Bark just sat there slowly catching his breath. Knuckles had been just watching, making sure the bear didn't use this as an opportunity to take another Chaos Emerald.

"Forgive the rudeness," said Bark, calmly, "But what exactly are you?"

Knuckles just starred at him, with a shocked look on his face. He felt insulted. "what sort of dumb question is that?" Knuckles yelled back. "I'm an echidna!"

"An echidna?" Bark said raising an eyebrow, "But there just a fairytale, you tell little kids to teach them not to be greedy."

"What?" asked Knuckles, now curious.

"About Pachacamac getting killed by the power of some magical gems he'd created. He got too greedy and it killed him." Bean responded, telling the story as he knew it.

Knuckles sighed. It was obvious that Bark, like the majority of people, had no idea about his once proud race. Knuckles felt compelled to tell Bark about what he knew of his people. As the pair spoke, Knuckles slowly began to trust Bark. Hearing Bark speak of the way he'd arrived. Knuckles went and showed Bark one of the teleporters. Bark gave a knowing smile when he saw it, which confirmed to Knuckles that Bark was telling the truth.

It was night time when the pair returned to the emerald chamber. Bark looked at the moon and told Knuckles how one time he'd convinced Bean that it was made of cheese, and that Bean had spent the next three weeks wondering how it became uneaten.

"You mean it's not made of cheese?" was Knuckles immediate response. Yet again, he had been tricked. Knuckles cursed Amy for getting him to believe it.

Bark sighed, and told Knuckles he was gullible. Knuckles gave Bark a look which silenced him. Knuckles sat atop the master emerald, continuing his duty. He told Bark that Bark was free to leave. Bark wandered over to one of the emeralds, to take a close look. Knuckles kept an eye on Bark, but for the most part just sat there atop the master emerald.

"So these things have infinite power then?" Bark asked. "you wouldn't believe it by looking at them"

"That's because four of them are missing, and they only work when they are all together." explained Knuckles, still wondering what had happened to the other Emeralds.

Bark reached his hand out and touched the pink emerald. Knuckles sat up as he did so. There was a blinding flash and both Bark and the pink emerald disappeared. Knuckles was fuming. He was now down to just two Chaos Emeralds. He'd trusted Bark, and Bark had repaid him by disappearing with one of the Chaos Emeralds. Maybe, Knuckles thought, that was Barks plan all along. Knuckles clenched his fists together, there were just two emeralds left now, the green and the grey emerald. Since the Floating Island was no longer in the air, Knuckles thought, there was no need for these to stay in there alter. Knuckles was going to keep hold of the pair of these, there was no way anyone would be able to take them from him now.

**Where has Bark ended up? How many more Chaos Emeralds will Knuckles loose? there's only one way to find out, keep reading**


	21. A flight to catch

**The story so far: Tails has been captured by Robotnik. Meanwhile, Bark has had an encounter with Knuckles**

Sonic had to admit he had had a lucky escape. If it wasn't for the third Egg-O-Matic waiting to ambush him, Sonic would've been one dead hedgehog. As it had happened though, Sonic landed atop the Egg-Robo Pilot, breaking it, and ended up in the pilot seat. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have much clue how to fly it, and was nearly blown to pieces as he made his way down. He'd probably never admit to it, but he had crashed the Egg-O-Matic. Admittedly the thing was on it's last legs, and he was lucky to have got as far as he had when the engine cut out.

Sonic wasn't too sure where he was, it kinda looked like Labyrinth Zone, but with more metal. It took Sonic a few seconds to remember the hidden dungeon underneath the Scrap Brain Zone, which finally twigged to Sonic where he was. Sonic brushed the dust off of himself when he'd noticed someone cowering. He son realised it was Bean the Dynamite, and at first was apprehensive about saying anything. It was only when he noticed that Bean was quite clearly panicked, that Sonic decided it would be best for him to ask how Bean was. The ducks response startled Sonic slightly, claiming he wasn't Bean. Sonic didn't think anything of it though, Sonic had only ever met Bean really once before today, and he spent most that time trying not to get blown up. It was an honest mistake, in Sonic's head, and he apologised to Pin for the mix up.

Sonic asked Pin if he knew the way out of the dungeon. Pin shrugged, unable to remember how he'd actually got down here. Sonic persuaded Pin to follow him, and began to run at a speed which Pin could keep up with. This annoyed Sonic slightly, as Pin was what most people would call reasonably fast, which to Sonic was still unbelievably slow. Of course Sonic couldn't grumble, there weren't too many people who could keep up with him.

The pair began to work there way through the maze like dungeon, Sonic remembering his first time through here. It was made slightly easier by the fact that a few of the traps had rusted and had stopped working, but it was hardly Sonic's idea of fun. Sonic soon found Pin to be quite useful as he went through the underwater maze, with Pins talent for flying transferring underwater. Although Pin didn't look it, he was strong enough to carry Sonic for far longer a time than even Tails could succeed in flying Sonic for. Sonic of course repaid this favour by dragging Pin through the numerous traps that required the speed that only certain types of aircraft could achieve. Before the pair realised it, they had found the way out, and were sat on the edge of the Scrap Brain Zone.

Pin sat down, knackered. Although it had only taken a few minutes, it was not the sort of thing he could do everyday. Sonic himself was fine, but he needed a moment himself to work out how to get back to the Floating Island. Sonic was sure that Tails would be in serious trouble if left with Knuckles for too long. Sonic wondered, why exactly was Knuckles blaming him, and if it had been Robotnik who took the emerald, why take just one, it wasn't as if the emeralds were all that powerful on there own. Sonic couldn't go super without all seven, that was for sure.

Sonic began to search the sky's, the sun had set now, it was dark. He looked all around, but he couldn't see any sign of the Floating Island. It was then that Sonic spotted it, a large green flying battleship. It was Robotnik's it just had to be, no one else had the capabilities to build one, save for Tails, and Sonic was sure he'd not seen a flying battleship like that one in the workshop.

"What in the name of Cocoa Island is that?" Pin yelled. Sonic gave Pin a slightly odd look with that phrase, sure he'd heard of that place, but dismissed it. Sonic seldom stayed in one place long enough to know the name of every location.

"I'm not sure, but I believe it belongs to Robotnik, which means I have to get up there, and find out what's going on." Sonic gave Pin a wry look, before continuing. "Listen Pin, I need a favour. I need to get up to that battleship, and you already proved your more than capable of flying me some distance back in the dungeon. Can you fly me up there? You won't have to do anything else, I promise."

Pin looked uneasy at Sonic, unsure of himself, and thought for a moment, "And miss all the fun? Not only am I gonna take you up there, I'm gonna help you. You saved my life down there, it's the least I can do."

Sonic groaned in his head. He didn't need any help, aside from getting up there, and he certainly didn't want to spend his time making sure Pin didn't get injured. An idea formed in Sonic's head. "You sure you can look after yourself? It's gonna be pretty rough up there."

Pin gave Sonic a confident grin. "I was in many of the great battles of Cocoa Island with the Battle Kukku, I think I know how to handle myself." Sonic rolled his eyes remembering one of Tails' story's about how he single handily saved the island from a whole army. Sonic now had someone who would deny this claim.

"Well okay then Pin, I can't see the harm, in you joining me in an investigation." Sonic shrugged, "If you really want to, then I guess I cant stop you."

"That settles it then, we go now." Pin took to the air, and spent a moment straightening out his feathers, before lowering himself down. Sonic grabbed hold of Pins ankles, thinking to himself that this was probably suicide. Still, Sonic had no alternative, and if Robotnik was up to no good, then he'd have to trust that Pin could get them to the battleship. Once there, then Sonic would worry about all the hazards that would be in the battleship, as well as confronting Robotnik.

Sonic expected that Pin would chicken out, fighting a balanced war was one thing, going up against the full extent of Robotnik was another. Sonic had to admire Pin for that much, unlike everyone else who had some sort of skill when going up against Robotnik; be it speed, stealth, strength, or mechanical expertise, everyone brought something useful with them, that made a genuine contribution. All Pin had to offer was rugged determination, something would only get him so far. Sonic didn't want to raise any concerns with Pin though, not while they were in mid air. Although Pin had saved Sonic from drowning, in the Scrap Brain labyrinth, there was something about the duck Sonic didn't trust.

**What will Sonic find on the Battleship? Can Pin really be trusted? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
**


	22. More nothingness

**The story so far: Knuckles has lost _another _Chaos Emerald. Meanwhile, Sonic has helped Pin escape the Scrap Brain Zone**

The nothingness was oddly comforting for Robotnik. It seemed familiar, almost comfortable to him, as if it were his home. Robotnik wasn't too sure of what had happened; even with his I.Q. there were some things that were just unexplainable. Robotnik wasn't too sure what was happening or why, but he knew that he wasn't in control. This made Robotnik slightly uncomfortable, Robotnik was normally in control; loosing control was often why he lost against Sonic. Robotnik rubbed his glasses against his shirt impatiently, it was obvious to him that whatever had brought him here meant for him to be here, and that the same something was taking it's time to make its presence known. Robotnik was willing to co-operate, he knew that this unseen force could be useful to him as future ruler of Mobius.

"Dr Ivo Robotnik, I presume." echoed a voice from all around, "Welcome home."

Robotnik stood there puzzled. He had never been here before, and the place certainly wasn't what he'd ever consider his home. Robotnik stayed silent, as the voice continued. A figure began to materialise out of the nothingness, it wasn't an anthro, too tall and too skinny for almost any type of anthro. Robotnik assumed it to be a human; it had the features of one from what he could make out. It stood there, deliberately shrouded in darkness. Robotnik could tell it was wearing a long coat, and from its lack of movements in the hands, it had kept its arms behind its back, perhaps a conscious effort to hide body language from Robotnik. The person stepped forwards out of the darkness.

"N-no, it can't be." Robotnik was shocked as the person walked forwards, "You can't exist, I became you. I am you."

"Yes you did Ivo," the man said solemnly, "or at least that's what everyone thought when the ROCC exploded. However, when the chaos energy infected my body, I was moved out of it, and you were moved from your home, here in the Chaos Emeralds, into my body."

Robotnik just smiled, composure regained. "So what are you going to do about it then Ovi?"

"Unfortunately for me, there is nothing I can do." Kintobor said. "However, I do know who can. There is a way to get you out of my, now grotesque, body," Kintobor's body had become swollen with the Egg he was holding when the transfer happened, something which did not please Kintobor to look upon.

Robotnik just stood there, and snorted. He doubted any of this was possible.

"Chaos Energy is not infinite outside the emeralds Robotnik." Kintobor said, hoping to silence Robotnik for long enough. "Eventually it will run out in my body, and you will cease to exist. I already know your subconscious is beginning to slip, I can tell."

Robotnik's confident faced dropped. Realising that Kintobor was correct, he began to panic.

"This is just a warning Ivo, soon the energy will be gone, and you will be no more." Kintobor said calmly.

"You forget one thing, were inside the Emeralds, therefore I am gaining energy from it. Even if you are right, my life is lengthened through chaos energy exposure." Robotnik gave a confident grin, knowing that he was right. Kintobor knew it too, but he couldn't let Robotnik free just yet

"I know that Ivo, but sometimes these things are necessary. After all, you may gain a few extra seconds being here, but that's only a few seconds longer I can wait to return home. I've been in here quite a while now, a little bit longer is no big deal." Kintobor said, agitating Robotnik by his calmness. Robotnik always hated Kintobor, the fact that Kintobor was Robotnik's polar opposite made this quite understandable.

There was a tremor, and the nothingness shook violently. Kintobor's face switched to a worried one, he sighed, as there was a bright flash all around. Robotnik shut his eyes, opening them after a few seconds. He was on the bridge of his airship, sat in the command seat. A pair of mis-matched robots, one silver, one gold, sat near the front doing there driving duty. A smaller robot with a jetpack flew back and forth, checking components, and reading dials. Robotnik could've easily automated the whole ship, but if there was a problem in one place, having lots of separate robots make changes manually was less risky, and when you were flying something as large as a zone, you wanted to be as sure as possible that nothing could go wrong.

Robotnik sat there for a moment, wondering if it was a dream. It was when he looked at his hands, and noticed that he was missing a glove that he realised he did not fall asleep in the bridge. Robotnik thought for a moment, before it came to him what he was doing. He had a Chaos Emerald, and was gloating in front of a captured Tails. Robotnik began to make his way back to his torture room, believing that was where he would find the missing Chaos Emerald. Wobbling as he ran, Robotnik made his way to the room. Robotnik put the combination into the doors lock, smiling slightly as he did.

The smile slid of his face the second he saw that not only was there not a Chaos Emerald to be found anywhere in the white room, but also that his dual tailed prisoner had somehow escaped.

** Where is the Emerald? What happened to tails? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.**


	23. Yet another nothingness

_**The story so far: Sonic and Pin are heading towards an airship. Meanwhile, Robotnik has had an encounter with a ghost from the past.**_

Bark found himself in a great expanse of grey. It sort of reminded him of the polar regions of Mobius during the winter months, everything shrouded in darkness. The only thing different was that he was showing up in full colour to his eyes, despite a lack of a visible light source. Bark was also conscious of the fact that he was no longer breathing, a thought which had Bark panicked, what if he had died. Bark wondered to himself about what the afterlife was like. He shrugged, unsure himself; he'd wait a little while before he thought about that. It had only been a few minutes, or at least it'd seemed that way, the clock on his communicator had stopped. He had checked every other function of it; it seemed to work, although he couldn't get a signal to send a message. It was almost as if time had stopped.

It was then that the voice began speaking. It was a Babylonian Voice, Bark knew this; he used to hang around with some Babylonians as a youngster. They weren't the best of people to hang around with, he'd admit that, but with the Babylonians you were either with them, or against them. Nevertheless it seemed to pay off for him, as the voice began to talk to Bark. Bark listened intently, after what the echidna had said hearing something like this was interesting. It was when Beans name popped up that Bark began to take a real interest in this conversation. Bean wasn't a Babylonian, he was a duck. Although all the Babylonian's where birds, Bean had been raised on South Island, he couldn't have been one.

"You must watch after him," the voice spoke, referring to Bean, "it is my fault he is how he is."

Unsure of where exactly to turn to face this voice, Bark closed his eyes; it would be easier to talk to an unseen presence if he himself could see nothing. "What are you on about mister…?" Bark trailed off; unsure of whose voice it was, but believing it to be male.

"Before I ended up here, I was known as Dr Kintobor," the voice answered. "And there was a mishap in my lab which lead Bean to become how he is."

Bark thought for a moment, he actually had no clue, what this doctor meant by all this. Bean was just a normal anthro, albeit slightly zany. Bark had known Bean for several years now; there was nothing wrong with him. Bark had to ask what Dr Kintobor meant by this.

"It was many years ago Bark," Kintobor started, "Bean was my assistant in my underground laboratory. He helped me develop my Chaos Compressor, a device designed to place evil energy into the Chaos Emeralds. Bean was a skilled scientist and, in my own opinion, would've gone on to do great things. But that was before it happened."

Bark looked on, slightly shocked by this. In all the time he had known Bean, he had no idea that Bean had any scientific knowledge. The closest Bean every got to being scientific was knowing what colours to mix together to make green, and more often than not he'd add some red into it, just for the sake of mixing more.

"What exactly happened then?" Bark asked, wanting to find out more. Bark thought he knew the ins and outs of Beans life like he did his own.

"There was an explosion. The Compressor was not as stable as I thought it could be. At the time we only had three emeralds, so Bean didn't suffer the full effect of a Chaos Emerald explosion like me, but his head became just as destabilised. The machine got switched off quicker this time than when it happened to myself, but it left Bean shaken." The voice paused.

Bark thought for a moment, a few bits and pieces where over his head, but for the most part Bark sort of understood all this, thanks to his talk with that echidna a few moments earlier. "So what exactly happened then?" Bark asked, wanting the full answers.

"I don't know the full extent of it, but Bean became somewhat twisted. He lost a lot of his knowledge, and common sense. He would deliberate make stuff explode, just for the fun of it." Bark nodded at this, it sounded more like the Bean he knew. "Bean became who he is now because of that explosion. He is very fragile mentally, I watched over him for a few months after the explosion. He seemed schizophrenic."

"Schizophrenic?" Bark interrupted, he'd not heard that term before.

"Having multiple personalities," the voice answered, "Bean would begin to complain of voices, and then he would start to cower in fear. Unless he was snapped out of it for long enough, he would become another personality."

Bark nodded again, he had seen Bean do this before, but Bark never thought of it to be anything more than Bean being himself. If what this voice was saying was true, then Bark had unwittingly been the only thing keeping Bean sane for over three years. Something in Barks head clicked, it had dawned on him now as to why Bean had insisted he stayed with Bark for so long, despite everything Bark did to him. Bark began to feel guilty for all the times he had mocked Beans cowering.

Bark thought back to how he first met Bean. It had been on Cocoa Island, Bark was travelling through, after the great war, when he found Bean. Bean had been severely injured. Bark had taken it upon himself to watch over Bean as he recovered from his injuries. It was seven months before Bean was at full health, and by that time, he and Bark had become such close friends, that the pair of them began to work together. Bark's boss had agreed to allow Bark to take Bean with him.

"You have to watch over him Bark," the voice said. "If one of his other personalities is around for too long there's no telling what permanent damage it could do to Bean. Also, there is every chance that his other personality is Chaotic, in the same way Robotnik is, and that could prove disastrous for all involved." Bark shivered at the mention of Robotnik. Everyone on Mobius knew who he was, and everyone reacted in one of three ways; fear, disgust, or contempt. Bark's reaction was one of fear, being made into a Badnik was hell, and had left him claustrophobic. Bark shook that memory to the back of his mind, now was not the time.

"Please watch over Bean, he needs you." the voice said, getting quieter as it spoke. There was a bright flash, and the nothingness disappeared. Bark opened his eyes to find himself back where he had been, in the emerald chamber, in front of a rather angry, but somewhat startled Knuckles.

Bark was slightly puzzled, but before he could ask Knuckles what had just happened, Knuckles asked him for the Chaos Emerald. It was then that Bark realised that somewhere between being on the Floating Island, and appearing in the nothingness, the Chaos Emerald had disappeared. Unfortunately for Bark, that was not the answer Knuckles wanted to hear, and Knuckles showed Bark this by knocking him out cold.

The last thing Bark heard was Knuckles mutter something about being gullible.

_** What will happen to Bark? Where are the Emeralds going? There is only one way to find out, keep reading.**_


	24. The Demon Kitsune

**The story so far: Robotnik has met with his former self. Meanwhile Bark has learnt a bit more about Bean.**

* * *

This wasn't the first time that Sonic had saved Tails, but Tails knew Sonic didn't mind. Tails had saved Sonic's life probably the same number of times, and Tails knew Sonic would need him, if they were to succeed. Tails was wondering though how exactly Sonic had managed to find him, until Sonic admitted it was pure dumb luck, and that he had no idea that Tails was on the airship.

"We're on an airship?" Tails said, slightly confused? "But how did you get up here? I mean you can't fly or anything."

"I had a lift," Sonic said coolly. As if on cue, Pin walked into the room. The reaction he gave upon seeing Tails was not the expected one.

Pin screamed. "T-that's the d-demon Kitsune." Pin stuttered.

"The what?" Sonic and Tails both said in unison. Tails had been called a Kitsune before, despite not actually knowing what a Kitsune was, but never a demonic one.

"He came to Cocoa Island," Pin said pointing at Tails, "we were there to claim back our land. The island had been deserted, and we were going to make it our home, after we had lost another battle with some other birds. Then he appeared out of nowhere, and he wiped out our entire army. Him all on his own. We fought back as hard as we could, but no matter what we did, he wiped us out. The casualties were numerous."

Tails felt uneasy by that description, from his point of view, the Imperial Kukku Army had invaded his home, he was merely defending himself. It wasn't his fault if the Kukku army weren't skilled fighters. This had happened a long time ago though; Since Robotnik had come onto the scene much of the differences of the anthro's had been put to one side, to present a united front against him. Although there were still a few animals who were uneasy amongst one another, they were all united against there common enemy.

"That's a great story Pin," Sonic said hurriedly, "but right now were onboard one of Eggman's battleships. This place is gonna be full of robots all out to get anything that moves, and certainly will smash anything that doesn't. So if we can put this to one side until were outta here; then we can discuss politics all you want." Tails looked unsure on this; he didn't particularly want to discuss the idea at all.

Tails eyed the duck carefully, he was sure that he'd not only met this duck someplace else, but that it had been pecking at him as he flew the tornado earlier on that day. Tails was sure that this duck was Bean, but if it was, then why was he offering Sonic help.

The thought escaped Tails as turning the corner revealed a small squadron of Badniks. Seven in total, all simply ones, barely had the programming to alert others. Not that Tails particularly wanted them to. Sonic immediately revved into one, seemingly without thinking. It raised a shield and bounced Sonic straight into the path of another. It smashed to pieces, leaving just some rubble, and a seed. Pin had sprung into action at this point, he proved himself to be competent by successfully knocking one Badnik onto the spinning blade of another. This proved to be enough to short circuit them both, and they began to spark about.

Tails jumped atop one of the others. It too fell apart, although he lacked spikes with which to do quite as much damage as Sonic did, he had learnt over the years how to do just as an effective spin attack of his own. The three remaining robots lunge towards the three anthro's. Sonic jumped atop the first, smashing it as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Tails too jumped atop the one charging at him, this one deflected him off with a shield. Pin ducked just in time to avoid a collision with Tails. Sonic jumped onto the other one, leaving just one robot. Sonic was about to spin dash it when the two badniks Pin had taken care of exploded. The explosion sent the one remaining active Badnik flying, and blew a massive hole in the floor on where they were stood. Sonic was on one side, Tails and Pin were stuck on the other. The hole revealed to Tails that they were at the bottom of the battleship. Tails tried to fly over to Sonic, but the passing air from underneath made this impossible.

"I'll meet you two upstairs somewhere. No point hanging around here." Sonic yelled, barely audible above the roar of the wind from the hole.

Tails nodded, before looking at Pin, "We'll meet Sonic later." Tails said, leading Pin through some of the corridors. Pin followed, able to keep the pace Tails was setting reasonably well.

The battleship was full of corridors that led to other corridors. Along the route there were numerous doors, all of which locked. Tails assumed that they were like the cell he was in, a fact confirmed as they walked out of a door labelled 'Prison cells: 48-72'. Tails also saw a vent cover lying on the floor, and assumed that was how he and Pin got onto the airship. Tails looked around; the corridor he emerged into was not unlike the one he had come from, with plain white walls and white doors. Tails was puzzled by the lack of detail; normally Robotnik took great pride in emblazing his face on all of his creations. Tails didn't have time to stop and think about it though; he was too busy trying to find a way out.

It was Pin who noticed the stairwell, yelling to Tails of its existence. Tails resented Pin, although Tails was eight, and therefore the youngest of the pair, he was the more accomplished fighter, and didn't need to be told by Pin what was doing. Tails of course knew that Pin was somewhat scared of Tails, making dealing with him somewhat easier. Tails himself wasn't comfortable around Pin; he just found the duck to be a little bit odd.

It seemed even odder when Pin suddenly raced ahead claiming he knew exactly where he was going. Tails followed; half wanting off the battleship, and half unsure of whether or not he could trust Pin. Tails thought he had his suspicions confirmed though, when Pin opened a door into a room full of Badniks. Tails looked at Pin's face as they became surrounded. It seemed to be smiling, overjoyed by the prospect of Tails being caught.

* * *

**What's going to happen to Sonic? Why is Pin so happy? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.**


	25. Finding the control room

**Ressurected from dead after nearly a year of writers block and "problems"**

_The story so far: Bark has helped Knuckles lose another emrald. Meanwhile Tails and Pin are surrounded by Badniks._

* * *

There was a loud bang, and Bean felt everything jolt about. The door swung open, the cage Pin had placed Bean in was now open. Bean thought for a moment, before taking his chances, anything was better than being locked up like this. Looking back and forth, Bean made his way out of the cage. As soon as he had, it disappeared. Bean ignored this, he had more important things to worry about right now than the impossibilities of matter collapse. 

Bean began to make his way through the nothingness. It was not what he would call enjoyable to walk through it in such a state. The whole place was too chaotic, almost unstable. Bean continued, forwards, as around him a forest materialised out of the nothingness. Bean looked at it closely, the forest was blocky, almost made entirely of squares, and there was quite some distinction between areas of colour. This wasn't too important to Bean though, as he slowly found himself attacked by groups of dynamite armed ducks, all of whom bore more than a passing resemblance to Pin. Bean took out some of his own bombs and began to fight back. These ducks however where nowhere as near as powerful as Pin, and Bean found he could deal with them with just one bomb a duck.

Bean also found that his bombs actually materialised out of mid-air, a fact which gave Bean much joy as he blasted the various Pins into oblivion. Ducking over one of there bombs, Bean blasted another one with one well placed explosion. Bean cheered as it went flying, this had made up for all the time Bark had told him not to throw explosives. Pulling out a peace sign, the last of the ducks was thrown backwards into a tree with another explosion. The duck in question disappeared into nothingness soon afterwards.

Bean looked around, the square forest began to fade back into the nothingness again. Bean sighed, he'd had a lot of fun blowing all the Pin look-alikes into small pieces, that he found himself startled to have finished. Bean wandered around the nothingness, but there was nothing for him to see. Bean continued walking forwards, having picked a direction via pot luck. Bean figured that if all roads led to nowhere, and if he already was nowhere, then all roads must lead to somewhere good. Not being able to see any flaw in his logic, Bean quickened his pace. Bean eventually came into a large computer room.

"Looks like I found it at last then," he said, unsure why exactly finding a computer room was significant. Bean looked around, maybe there was something in here that could be of use to him. He looked at one of the terminals. The screen asked him for a username. Dutifully, Bean typed in his own name. the machine then asked for a password. Bean looked blank, he had no idea what it was. He tried typing in various things, none of which worked.

After several attempts, on that computer Bean had not yet found a password which had worked. Bean whacked his hand onto the computer. It beeped, and Bean saw that somehow he had got in. Bean looked at what he had hit; the password had been 'poloi'. Bean looked at this name, he knew it from somewhere. Unfortunately Bean didn't have to long to think about where he had heard that word before more Pin clones had walked in. They all began to throw dynamite at Bean. Bean jumped all around to avoid the incoming explosives. The bombs bounced off the computers, leaving them unscathed. Bean jumped over to them, and began to peck at the first clone. It tried to block, but was soon felled to the floor.

Two more ducks came after Bean. Bean managed to trick the pair of them into blowing each other up as he ducked underneath the bombs. Bean looked around, it looked like he was clear. Bean gazed at the computer, it was showing him something unusual. It looked like a camera recording, only he had full control of the camera. Bean moved the camera around, wherever it was, it was surrounded by nasty looking robots. Oddly, there was also a small fox cub. Bean looked carefully at it, then realised, it had been the one he had been pecking at earlier, on the red bi-plane a fact confirmed by the number of tails Bean noticed on the fox.

"Any ideas Pin?" the fox said nervously, talking to the camera. Bean looked at the fox oddly. It was a bit odd to call a camera by that name. It was then that Bean realised that he was actually seeing things through Pins eyes. Maybe this would be how Bean could beat Pin back into submission, and regain control.

"Duck," a voice said, echoing from all around. It was Pin's voice, and it was panicked. It struck Bean just how panicked Pin was, especially as before now everything Pin had said was spiteful, but calm as if he was in control. Bean began to wonder what all this equipment was for. There was another shock, and Bean grabbed onto one of the terminals for support. Bean looked at the monitor, the fox was fighting with the robots, as was Pin. Bean found it hard to watch, as if he was having an out of body experience. Bean looked again at the control panel, one of the monitors was flashing the words 'execute switch' Bean looked at the keyboard. The room began to flicker. Yet again reality began to collapse all around Bean. The computer screen showed up lots of system error messages, as the whole place disintegrated into nothingness.

* * *

_Why was Pin seeing a two tailed fox? What did the execute button do? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	26. Smoke Signals

_The story so far: _ _Tails and Pin have been surrounded by badniks, meanwhile Bean has managed to find a computer terminal_

* * *

Knuckles was fed up. He had just two emeralds now, and with the way his luck was going, he wouldn't have any left. He began to think. The polar bear he had knocked out had the pink one when he left, but Knuckles had searched Bark while he was unconscious, all he had on him was a sandwich, a hat to hide his follicle shortcomings, a scarf, and an absurd looking watch.

Knuckles had placed Bark near the tornado, and sat watching him, waiting for him to come round. Knuckles continued to think, he saw Sonic with the blue one, before the hedgehog had disappeared. He had the green and the grey emeralds in his possession. This only explained the location of four. The red one had been a fake, so someone had got hold of that. Knuckles had no idea what had happened to the yellow one, either he had lost it while wandering through a cave that didn't exist, or someone had managed to steal it as he slept. The last emerald, a sort of turquoise colour, had disappeared during the time when he had been chasing after Tails. Did Tails actually have that emerald, is that why he was so keen to leave all of a sudden, Knuckles thought.

It was then that Knuckles heard a ringing. Bark's watch was ringing. Knuckles looked at it oddly, unsure what to do. He stared at it for several seconds, until the ringing stopped. Knuckles looked oddly at the device, and assumed it was an alarm. He left it, and took a look at his captive Bark. The bear was still out cold.

Knuckles sat down, if he wanted an answer, he'd need the bear to wake up. Unfortunately, by the looks of it; Knuckles would have a while to wait before that happened. Knuckles stared at the green Chaos Emerald, sparkling it in the light. It pulsed light slightly, but otherwise, it didn't really do anything.

The breeze grew stronger, Knuckles felt it and shivered. He looked to the source of it just in time to duck as something flew overhead. Knuckles looked to whatever it was, but it was gone, along with the green emerald he had been looking at. Knuckles did however notice the trail of smoke the thief had left. Knuckles looked towards the bi-plane, if he wanted his emerald back, he'd have to follow this trail to his thief, but he also needed the polar bear to find the pink emerald. Knuckles picked up the bear, and eased him into the backseat of the plane, and began preparations for takeoff.

Unfortunately Knuckles had no clue how to actually start the plane. Knuckles randomly tapped at leavers and dials, causing various noises to be made, and lots of error messages to occur. Knuckles very nearly punched the console, when from over his shoulder he heard a voice say what to do.

"You can fly a plane, I take it then?" Knuckles said annoyed at showing off his own incapability's to fly.

"I can fly this hunk of junk that for sure," Bark said, as he changed places with Knuckles. "Where you flying to then?"

"Follow that trail of smoke," Knuckles said, pointing to a trail which was beginning to dissipate.

Bark questioned why he should, when Knuckles reminded him of what had caused him to be unconscious. With a hesitant nod, and a sigh, Bark started up the engine, and set the plane into flight. Bark was too dazed to realise this was the same plane he had been engaged in air combat with the day before.

The trail was windy, and complicated. It went through canyons, and around mountains. Whatever had made it, Knuckles thought, either didn't know where it was going, or as deliberately going out of it's way to loose any followers. Narrowly avoiding some falling boulders, Bark diligently followed the trail. It lead to a large airship. However the trail looked like it belonged to something which had gone inside. Knuckles climbed out of the pilots seat and slowly made his way onto the wings of the plane.

"You crazy lunatic!" Bark screamed above the loud whirring of the engine. Bark quickly climbed out of the co-pilots seat, and into the pilots chair. "You want to get yourself killed?"

Knuckles smirked back, he didn't have much intent to stay on the plane. Knuckles examined the airship, and saw a reasonable sized hole underneath. This was he best entrance, he thought, and he was going to take it. With a jump Knuckles threw his fists forwards, and slowly glided toward the bulk of the ship. Bark yelled furiously at Knuckles, but with the wind in his ears Knuckles failed to hear what the polar bear was yelling. With a thud Knuckles' fist made contact with the side of the airship. Looking back to the bi-plane, Knuckles grinned cheekily.

The airship was moving against the flow of wind, and moving along the ship towards the hole was far more difficult than Knuckles had thought. Knuckles began to shimmy along the side, lowering himself as he moved. A gun turret popped out of the side of the ship. Fortunately Knuckles saw it before the gun fired, and with one punch the turret exploded. Shielding himself with his arm, the force of the explosion was minimal, and the direction of travel blew the debris away from Knuckles. There was another explosion above Knuckles, as another turret exploded. Knuckles looked to the turret, then saw the familiar red bi-plane darting around, and firing another round of bullets into the turret which had popped up below him. This too exploded, sending more debris to the ground many miles below. Knuckles cursed himself for looking down, it was a very large drop below him. Closing his eyes briefly, Knuckles regained focus.

Knuckles edged his way towards a large glass window. Looking inside Knuckles saw an empty white room. There were bars on the window, making it too small to be a possible entrance for the echidna. Hanging on the side of the airship meant he couldn't swing an effective enough punch to smash through metal bars like those fixed onto this window. Dismissing the room as unimportant, Knuckles made his way to the hatch where the emerald's thief had disappeared. Climbing over the hatch, Knuckles made a mental note of it's position in relation to the hole. He estimated it was at least four floors above, and, assuming this was one of Robotnik's airships, there was probably no direct route from his chosen entrance point on the underside, to the hatch where the thief had entered. Knuckles had no way of telling whose airship this was though, many Mobians had airships, though most were not armed, nor this large. Lots of the airships owned were remade from Robotnik's own designs. This one could have easily been one of them. It was only that Knuckles had yet to see the Robotnik logo, which was Robotnik's own face, that Knuckles was unsure of the ships owner.

Knuckles didn't have time to think too much on it. By now he was on the underside of the ship, and less than twenty feet from the hole. The underside near the hole was badly dented, it was obvious this hole wasn't an entrance point, or an air vent, but rather there had been some sort of explosion which had caused it. Knuckles inched cautiously towards the hole, getting closer to his target, and one step closer to recovering his missing emeralds.

Knuckles pulled himself inside, and was poised to go find the thief that had stolen the emeralds, when a large explosion rocked the ship, knocking Knuckles backwards and out the very hole he'd worked so hard to get into.

* * *

_How will Knuckles survive? Will he ever get his emeralds back? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	27. Time's up

_The story so far: Bean has managed to escape Pin's jail. Meanwhile Knuckles made an attempt on an airship._

* * *

To say the airship was deserted was the understatement of the century, Sonic had thought. Almost none of the rooms had been locked, and save for the odd Badnik, Sonic was beginning to find running through identical looking corridors boring. Sonic had continued searching for a way to meet up with Tails and Pin, and had assumed they'd find him. However, his intention was to go full circle on himself, and join them more or less where he'd left them. While Tails could keep up with Sonic for the most part, Pin was not a runner, so with those to staying together, Sonic thought, it was likely they wouldn't have got very far in the time he joined them. Unfortunately Sonic hadn't counted on the idea that the none of the corridors above linked to any of the places Tails and Pin could access. Sonic was sure that an airship of this size wouldn't have just one corridor between the two ends, even if it was built by someone as insane as Robotnik.

Sonic was sure Robotnik had built this ship, despite the lack of ego normally found in Robotnik's works. After all Robotnik ranked his robotic soldiers based how on how much they looked like him, and had made a gigantic spaceship in the shape of his head for no practical reason at all. Sonic shuddered at the thought of the Death Egg, that thing still gave him the creeps, and despite all his searching, Sonic had never once found any evidence on Mobius that the thing was inactive. Considering how many times Sonic thought he'd destroyed the Death Egg, it always seemed to come back, a key part of Robotnik's plans. Thinking about it, most of Robotnik's evil schemes fell into one of two categories; either he'd have a big weapon ready to destroy large chunks of Mobius, or he'd have unleashed some apocalyptic monster that he'd eventually lose control of. Invariably these plans would almost always involve Robotnik trying to get his hands on the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic thought about his present situation and wondered; would he be fighting a giant robot, or some creature Robotnik had unwittingly released this time.

"Well look what we have here," a voice boomed gloatingly from behind Sonic. Sonic turned round to the all too familiar site of Robotnik sat inside his Egg-O-Matic. His moustache wiggled as he spoke, and Sonic's body tensed up ready to jump. Sonic knew the Egg-O-Matic was currently out of his jump height, and so did Robotnik.

"I assume you're here to find the missing Chaos Emerald then," Robotnik said, smirking, "It's too bad I don't have it. Shame really it would've been easier if I could utilise there power, but no matter, it's too late either way. You see, I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but right now we're above the remains of my old chemical factory, and I plan to…"

"Bore me with speeches?" Sonic interrupted sarcastically. He was getting bored with this, usually Robotnik had some weapon ready to attack. Lengthy speeches usually only occurred when Robotnik either had a prisoner, or when he was holding something very valuable, and judging by the looks of the room they were in, Sonic assumed he'd walked right into an ambush trap. Sonic tensed up further, he'd just have to attack Robotnik until his Egg-O-Matic's weapon exploded and Robotnik fled. However Sonic realised this time that the Egg-O-Matic was unarmed.

"Actually you spiked ball," Robotnik hissed angrily, "I have a much better plan." Robotnik pressed a button on his Egg-O-Matic, and the door behind him closed shut. The floor below Sonic whirred, as it lowered. The floor continued going, until Sonic was stood on a large platform, fixed in place by metal girders underneath the airship. From here Sonic could see the hole that had divided him from Pin and Tails, He briefly wondered if they were okay. Sonic figured that Robotnik would probably try to knock him off the platform, and eyed the Egg-O-Matic carefully.

"I wanted you to have a front row seat Sonic," Robotnik said calmly. "You see Sonic, from here you can see much of Westside Island. Everything from the Emerald Hill, to the Metropolis Zone. Look at that beautiful oil, from my old refinery, slowly drifting down past those ruins towards the remnants of my beloved chemical factory. Now did you know Sonic, that Mega Mack, the chemical which floods much of the Chemical Plant Zone, is actually highly explosive when mixed with oil? I didn't think you did," Robotnik said, answering his own question before Sonic could talk, "It's all very simple really Sonic; if I dropped a bomb now, my once beloved chemical plant would explode, sending tonnes of Mega Mack to mix with the oil. After that I'd only need another bomb, just a fraction of a second later and I could destroy the whole island!" Robotnik said gleefully.

"So your plan is to destroy Westside Island then?" Sonic said, trying to figure out how to stop this madman from his plan. Sweat dripped down his brow as he contemplated every possible action carefully.

"I don't plan destroy it," Robotnik said, waving a remote control in front of him, "I am destroying it." Robotnik smiled gleefully, as he pressed a button.

Sonic could only watch as two hatches in the bottom of the airship opened up, and two very different looking bombs sat ready to deploy. The first was very large, fully grey, and had a pointed end. The second was green, and much smaller. It didn't look like it would do anywhere near as much damage as the first, Sonic thought. Sonic looked to the edge of the platform. Sure enough, they were above the Chemical Plant Zone, and as Robotnik had said, the oil had drifted very close to where the Mega Mack was still leaking out. Sonic heard Robotnik laugh very loudly, and looked to Robotnik just as he pressed one of the buttons on the remote control. There was a click, and the large grey bomb was released. Sonic could only watch as the bomb fell to the planet bellow, towards it's intended target. Sonic shut his eyes, he didn't want to see what would happen next. There was a quiet explosion, and Sonic looked to the ground surprised, the destruction wasn't as bad as he had thought it'd be. The Chemical Plant had lost a wall, and the Mega Mack was seeping out further, but thanks to the splash of water from the ocean there was no fire.

It was then that there was a second click; the green bomb was released. This one soared down at an incredible speed. It struck the ground somewhere in the middle of the aquatic ruin, and the oily water, now contaminated with Mega Mack covered much of Westside Island.

Robotnik laughed maniacally. "All it needs now is one single flame, and the entire island is history!" Robotnik declared triumphantly.

Sonic said nothing, he knew Robotnik was right. All it would take is one tiny spark. He looked down in horror "Eggman! You…" Sonic didn't know how to end that sentence.

Not that it mattered; any insults Sonic could've said would've been drowned out by the deafening volume of the explosion that tore Westside Island to pieces. As the roar died down all Sonic could hear was Robotnik's maniacal laughter.

* * *

_What will Sonic do now? Has Robotnik succeeded? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	28. Mistaken identity

Tails and Pin had narrowly managed to defeat the badniks which had previously surrounded him. However rather than being pleased with himself, Pin was hunched on the ground, complaining of the voices in his mind. Tails could only watch, for a second Pin had glowed an unusual purple colour, before that faded back to green. The duck very slowly opened his eyes, and looked around himself, before quacking twice.

"Did anyone get the licence plate number of the piano that fell on me?" Pin said, cautiously.

Tails thought Pin had taken a blow to the head during the battle. Tails held up two fingers, and asked Pin how many he was holding up, a routine test for concussion as Tails knew it. Pins response of seventy four alarmed Tails, and Tails advised that Pin found somewhere safe to sit and regain his head. Pin dismissed this idea, stating that it wasn't a good one.

"I think we should go through this door," Pin said opening up a supply cupboard. He walked straight into it before declaring that it was a dead end. Tails sighed; Pin was becoming more and more of a hindrance with every second.

"Are you okay Pin?" Tails asked.

"Pin? Where?" the duck said, cowering slightly. It was obvious to Tails that something had happened to the duck, and that he should be very careful. "Where's am I? Where's Bark?"

"Bark? The polar bear?" Tails asked, confirming his theory that Pin was actually Bean. Tails was unsure if it was wise to tell the duck anything yet, especially how the events of the last 48 hours had panned out.

The duck nodded, perhaps to enthusiastically, before holding its head in place with its hands. The duck seemed harmless for the most part, and Tails decided he should try to reason with him. "I don't know where he is I'm afraid, Sonic brought you to me, but we've just got split up from him…" Tails was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion from below, "and to be honest I don't think this airship is the safest place to be discussing things. I'm not sure, but I think it might blow up soon, so we should probably put our differences to one side and get out of here."

"Our differences?" Bean asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You don't remember trying to blow up my bi-plane do you?"

Bean nodded, again too enthusiastically. Before he could say anything though, another explosion sounded. Tails looked as the room they were in started to burn. Tails suggested it'd be wise to get out of there, and Bean had agreed. Tails and Bean raced through the corridors, searching for a way out. Opening a door labelled 'Loading Bay Two', the pair noticed the corridor behind them slipping downwards. Tails stopped Bean from going further, and they watched as the entire prison section was jettisoned. Tails looked down as he saw it fall; it landed in the water with a loud splash. From underneath him hear could hear maniacal laughter, which Tails knew from experience to be Robotnik's. The splash sent dirty water everywhere, landing on flames, causing them to treble in size as it did. Tails didn't know quite what had happened, but by the looks of it the whole of Westside Island was now in such a bad state of disrepair that the Floating Island looked like it got off lightly when it crashed. Tails' heart had sunk upon the sight.

"H-how? How could this have happened?" Tails asked himself

"Looks like someone blew it up!" Bean said unhelpfully.

"Robotnik," Tails said solemnly.

There was a quiet beeping and a large red robot appeared. Tails looked at it; it had clearly been inspired by Knuckles. More importantly though, in its left hand was a green Chaos Emerald. Tails tensed up to jump at it, but before he could react Bean had already flung a bomb in its direction. The robot fell over backwards with the explosion, throwing the emerald into the air. Bean grabbed it quickly, and there was a blindingly flash of light.

When Tails opened his eyes Bean was gone, along with the emerald, and all that was left in the room was Knuckles' metal doppelganger. Before Tails could react the robot had righted itself, and was lunging at Tails. It shot back quicker than Knuckles could, and Tails was knocked out the doorway. Instinctively Tails span his tails furiously, and kept at a steady height. The robot leapt out of the doorway, and glided for Tails, using rocket thrusters for speed. Tails dodged out of the way at the last second, and the robot collided with a door on the other side of the recently formed gap in the bottom of the ship. Tails looked around him for a place to land, before returning to the loading bay doorway. The metal Knuckles shot back for Tails, when tails got an idea. Repeating a trick Sonic had done just a day earlier in the bi-plane fight, Tails jumped onto the metal Knuckles, and kicked as hard as he could at it. The metal Knuckles didn't react. Tails figured it couldn't move while using its rocket, and used that to his advantage.

It was then that Tails saw Knuckles dangling from a tether at the bottom of the airship. Tails didn't know how to steer Knuckles' metal double, but right now Tails knew Knuckles needed his help. Tails jumped off of the metal Knuckles, and carefully flew down to Knuckles.

"Need a lift?" Tails asked Knuckles already knowing the answer.

"This doesn't make us even for the emeralds you stole from me." Knuckles said begrudgingly.

The metal Knuckles had landed and was preparing another shot at Tails, and the additional weight of Knuckles made Tails' flying slower. Tails couldn't fly forever; eventually he'd need to land as his tails had a habit of getting twisted around themselves. The metal Knuckles fired its booster rocket and headed straight for Tails. Knuckles had reacted first though; jumping free of Tails for the moment, Knuckles jumped and slammed fist first into his metal counterpart. The robot was knocked off course by this, and connected with a metal wall. It hung there, as Knuckles would, spiked fists being used for grip, feet for support. Knuckles glided around like this, and Tails caught him, before dragging them back into the loading bay doorway. They ran inside as the metal Knuckles shot in through the door. It stopped standing in the entrance ominously, its green eyes glowing in the darkness of the dimly lit loading bay. The robot shot for Tails and Knuckles. The pair of them darted out of the way, and Tails slammed his hand onto a large button. There was a whirring as a large door opened in front of them Unable to stop in time, the metal Knuckles shot out of the door. There was a bang as a missile collided with it.

Tails barely had time to think as the second missile headed straight for them inside the loading bay.


	29. Fight or flight

_The story so far: Westside Island has been destroyed. Meanwhile Tails And Knuckles have fought the Metal Knuckles_.

* * *

The bi-plane's controls weren't exactly what Bark was used to, and every so often he went to press a button only to find it wasn't where he thought it should be. Eventually he adjusted to the control scheme, but still had the odd blip. This plane was certainly more complex than his purple bi-plane was. He found the machine guns easier to use though, something which served him well dealing with the airships automated turrets. He blasted them with relative ease, barrel rolling to avoid their machine gun fire. Bark found a pair of flying goggles in the glove compartment, and strapped them over his eyes. They were a bit tight, but he loosened them to fit over his head, keeping his hat in place. 

Bark had sworn blind at Knuckles for jumping off the plane without warning. Fortunately Knuckles' luck had held out, despite the surprise of the turrets. Bark blasted another two of the turrets as he drew closer to the ship. Unfortunately he hadn't yet figured out how to make the plane go faster, and was stuck at the bare minimum flying speed. A platform lowered from the base of the airship not too long ago, and Bark figured that'd be how he'd be able to land the plane, and get inside the ship. He didn't quite know why, but he was sure Bean was inside this ship. Bark also knew his boss wouldn't be too pleased with the length of time this mission had taken, but that didn't matter now, for now Bark was beyond the point of caring about the mission, he just wanted to find Bean, get some revenge on that echidna, and then go home and have some sleep.

There was a gigantic explosion. Bark looked over the left side of the plane; what he saw shocked him to the very core. The whole of Westside Island was ablaze, with large chunks being blown into the air. They weren't flying high enough for them to cause Bark to have to divert his course, but nevertheless, Bark was shocked to watch the debris fly up into the sky. Large chunks of metal, plots of land, pieces that used to be peoples houses, personal belongings; it was all being thrown skyward and destroyed as if it didn't matter. Bark didn't need three guesses to know who did this; only one man on Mobius would have the weapons capability, and underhanded evilness to try such a thing. Bark felt a new anger in him. Bark had lived on Westside Island for several years before he'd upped sticks and relocated to his current home in the Star Light Zone, but part of him liked Westside Island and wanted to move back there.

Bark had gotten closer now, and could hear Robotnik's echoing laughter booming out of speakers placed all along the ship. A hatch opened up on the side, where the smoke had lead, and from inside out shot a large red robot. A button labelled 'fire missiles' lit up on the dashboard of the plane, and Bark decided to hit it. Two shots fired, the first colliding with the robot, blowing it to pieces. Its head shot forwards with the force of the explosion, and Bark ducked, narrowly avoiding being hit by it. It landed in the backseat. Picking it up Bark recognised it as the robot that had held him captive. He wondered about that, why had this robot taken him. Assuming the robot was indeed under Robotnik's control, it didn't make sense to tie him up, and then make escape so easy. Bark wondered further about how he'd ended up on the island, with Knuckles. The sound of a second explosion, caused by his second missile blowing up inside where the red metallic robot had appeared from caught Bark's attention again, and he placed the head into the back of the plane. Shooting down another couple of turrets, Bark was now close the platform. He looked carefully at it. Stood on the platform, was Sonic, and flying around nearby was Robotnik in his round hover vehicle. Bark looked at Robotnik; there was the man who'd destroyed Westside Island, the man whose factories had turned Bark into a Caterkiller, the man who was responsible in some way for all of this. Bark screamed in anger.

Bark wasn't sure what button he'd pressed when the plane's thrusters engaged, but he was glad when they did. The plane had been moving far too slowly, and the sudden increase in speed made targeting Robotnik's Egg-O-Matic much easier. Waiting for the missile lock to flash, Bark fired the last two missiles directly at Robotnik. Unfortunately Robotnik saw them coming, and while the first missile was a direct hit to the base of the Egg-O-Matic, it barely dented it. The second missile, Robotnik managed to dodge by the narrowest of margins. It collided with one of the platforms support beams, and shook the platform itself.

"It's takes more than one missile to destroy one of those things!" Sonic yelled to Bark, balancing himself as the platform shook. Bark gritted his teeth in determination, and brought the machine guns back up. Hitting the Egg-O-Matic was proving difficult, as it kept moving back and forth rather quickly, and targeting while flying was never an easy thing to do, particularly in an unfamiliar plane. Turrets had begun firing from the underside of the plane, and Bark was finding it increasingly difficult to manoeuvre without taking a hit. The turrets had limited range, but the more he seemed to destroy, the more they popped out and attacked him. Bark hedged his bets, and decided the best approach would be to not get too close. Anger still fuelling his actions, Bark fired another round of bullets, destroying two turrets as he did.

There was a beeping noise coming from the bi-planes cockpit. Bark looked at one of the dials; the plane was out of fuel. Bark cursed the sky, he'd have to land soon, and his only option was on the same platform Sonic was standing. Bark remembered back to his fight with Sonic earlier, and wondered if it was wise to land Sonic's plane next to Sonic. Unfortunately, the second beep reminded Bark he didn't have a choice. Flying down carefully, Bark managed to avoid much of the turret fire, and skidded to a halt somewhat in the centre of the platform. Sonic climbed atop the bi-plane, only to be told it was out of fuel. Bark knew it wasn't his fault, but still didn't appreciate the glare Sonic gave him for that news. Under normal circumstances Bark would've continued his fight with Sonic, after all, much of what had happened to bark could've been avoided had his purple bi-plane not been blown up in flight over the Scrap Brain Zone, but right now having Robotnik flying around was a much more important issue to deal with. The look on Sonic's face said the same to Bark, and he nodded.

"I see you've got another sidekick Sonic." Robotnik taunted. "Let's make sure he can't help you out of here." with a click six turrets appeared hexagonally around the platform, and with a few shots, blew up the tornado.

Bark dodged a piece of debris, before turning to Sonic. "I don't suppose you've got any idea how to get out of this situation?" he asked hesitantly. Sonic didn't say anything; he just kept his focus on Robotnik as he spoke. Robotnik continued gloating, but for some odd reason wasn't doing anything. Bark was confused; he knew Sonic and Robotnik were enemies, so for one to have the other trapped but do nothing about it was madness and stupidity, something which made Bark doubt the rumours of Robotnik's three hundred plus point I.Q.

The wind blew through Barks fur coldly. He shivered slightly. There was a creaking sound, and the platform swayed. Bark tried to maintain his balance, and lowered himself down, bending his knees and putting his arms out to avoid falling over.

"This platforms going to collapse," Sonic said quietly to Bark, "we have to get off of it now."

Bark nodded, and suggested that the only way off was up the platforms support beams. Sonic agreed, and they both began climbing. Bark followed Sonic up one of the beams, and no sooner than he did, the platform gave way, falling to the ground bellow. Bark couldn't help but watch as it fell onto the fire and ruins that was once Westside Island. He was too dazed to hear what Robotnik said as he disappeared, all he knew was that he was very high up, with nothing below him but certain death. Bark climbed as much as he could.

Sonic had made it to the top without any hassle, his speed making the climb very short work. Sonic balanced on a ledge, and put his arm out for Bark to grab hold of. Bark reached out for it as he climbed, inching ever closer to relative safety. Bark was just millimetres away from it when the support beam gave way and fell off the ship.

* * *

_Why isn't Robotnik attacking? Will Bark survive? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	30. Multiple nothingness disorder

_The story so far: _ _Tails has saved Knuckles from falling. Meanwhile Bark has made an unsuccessful attack on Robotnik._

* * *

Bean came to in an expansive greyness. He looked around; there was nothing to his left, or above him. He turned to his right and panic slightly. Pin was stood there. The duck didn't move though. Bean tensed up.

"Save it," Pin said calmly, "You can't actually touch or hurt me here, and I can't either." Pin said, seemingly disappointed by that fact. He reached out to touch Bean to prove a point, and Pin's hand passed straight through Bean's body. Bean touched his own hand, unable to do the same trick on himself. Going to throw a punch at Pin, Bean fell forwards, not landing on anything.

"Where are we?" Bean said confused.

"I'm not sure; I don't think we're dead though, if we are it must be hell to have to spend time with you unable to hurt you." Pin sighed, "All I know is when you grabbed that Emerald, we both came to here. I've been awake for about five minutes now. All there is is us and this nothingness you see before you."

Bean had lost interest in the explanation being offered, and had began whistling, something which annoyed Pin tremendously. Pin sat there with his hands over his ears, Bean's musical talent was lacking, yet oddly catchy.

"Firstly I must apologise to you both," a voice spoke solemnly from the nothingness, "If I hadn't been so reckless with the ROCC then this could've been avoided."

Bean turned around, looking for the voice. He checked everywhere twice, before giving up, concluding that the voice was invisible. Since he couldn't see it Bean decided to close his eyes and see nothing. Pin on the other hand nodded. "I warned you about its instability levels," Pin said calmly.

"The Chaos energy hasn't affected you the same way it did myself, I see then." The voice said sympathetically.

Bean was confused now, and asked the voice who it was. The voice replied it was Dr Kintobor and Bean quacked confused, Bean couldn't remember any doctor's, only the bandicoot that had shown him how to perform CRPC.

"I can't help to separate you two from each other I'm afraid. You two may dislike each other, but it's only here that I can keep you separate. Returned to reality the pair of you will still continue to fight. I urge both of you not to though. Something important is going on, on Mobius now. I can't say what, I don't fully know all the details myself, but I know that you two are essential to it. It's important you two learn to get on with one another, for the sake of the world." Kintobor warned ominously.

Pin laughed evilly. "Surely you must've figured out by now that one of us inherited the evil energy you were so keen on placing into the Chaos Emeralds. If one of us is evil, then how can we possible learn to get along?"

Bean just sat down, now he was bored. There was nothing interesting going on here, only lots of unnecessary talking. Stating that he was bored got him nowhere, as Kintobor merely countered Pins point with knowledge of how much evil had been in the three Emeralds at the time of the explosion. Bean yawned quietly, and contemplated falling asleep, while those two discussed things that were far too complex for his head to understand. He barely grasped that the moon was made of processed cheese, and had no idea what Pin meant when he mentioned quadratic equations. Beans ears perked up when he heard his own name, but then lost interest again when more statistical data came up.

"The point is," Kintobor said with a tone of urgency in his voice, "that the pair of you are going to have to coexist in one body. If you don't then the whole of Mobius will befall the same fate as Westside Island has."

"By which you mean?" Pin asked.

"Robotnik's destroyed it, everyone who lived there is dead." Kintobor spoke solemnly

Pin collapsed onto his knees in tears, something which shocked Bean. He'd never seen Pin with any emotion other than hatred. But then Bean had only ever seen Pin dealing with himself. Maybe Pin just hated Bean.

"The Kukku populace lived there," Pin cried, "everyone I ever knew is dead." Bean went to put an arm around Pin at this point, but gave up after he passed through Pin the forth time.

"You're not that evil Pin, well not always then." Bean said, surprising himself with his own common sense. Bean had felt calmer here. Things seemed to make better sense in this nothingness. Pin couldn't answer Bean, he was too distraught.

For what seemed like ten minutes no-one spoke. Pin cried for his loss, while Bean sat there, trying his best to comfort Pin. Bean couldn't help but feel slightly out of place, here he was consoling someone who had locked him in a cage, and left him for dead. The very monster that had haunted him for as long as he could remember; was now an emotional wreck in front of Bean. The fact that an area the size of a continent, which was home to an incomprehensible amount of living things, had been destroyed in the blink of an eye, didn't seem to have any effect on Bean.

"Alright Bean," Pin said slowly, pulling himself upright, "I say we work together and get some revenge on Robotnik for this. What do you say?"

Beans immediate reply of 'Cabbages' was met with a glare that reminded Bean of how Bark would glare at him. Bean suddenly realised he hadn't seen Bark in over a day. He shuffled about, frightened about what might happen before realising that since Pin was here, he wouldn't here Pin's voice in his head. This didn't stop Bean from feeling alone. Pin asked Bean if the reply of cabbages was meant as a yes, to which bean nodded hesitantly.

"I can't keep you here any longer," Kintobor said, "and I must apologise for the confusion that will happen when you are returned. I hope you two get past your differences, for Mobius' sake." Both Bean and Pin nodded.

There was a bright flash, and Bean found himself stood inside a white corridor. His head hurt worse than having a licensed grand piano fall on your head, he thought. He looked around for Pin, but he was not anywhere to be seen. Bean recognised the corridors as on he'd been stood in earlier. He looked to his right, and saw the familiar face of Dr Robotnik emblazoned on the wall. Bean felt uneasy to look at it, and began to wander around, unsure where exactly he was going. He walked cautiously through corridors, and made his way out into a more open room.

Walking into an ambush wasn't the cleverest thing that he'd done all day, and Bean was all to willing to surrender when twenty guns were pointed at him.

* * *

_Can Bean & Pin work together? How will Bean escape the ambush? Their's only one way to find out; keep reading._


	31. The master plan

_The story so far: _ _Bark and Sonic are hanging from the platform girders. Meanwhile Bean has met with a certain doctor._

* * *

Robotnik couldn't help but laugh with glee. He'd managed to surprise Sonic with a trap so simple even he was surprised it actually worked. Lowering Sonic to below the airship was a work of inspired genius, he thought. Sonic hadn't been overly impressed, but why would he have been. Robotnik just continued laughing. He didn't have to do a thing.

It had hit Robotnik about the oil in the ocean not too long ago, but he'd decided it was better to wait. He'd picked his timing perfectly, and when the bombs were released they caused the most damage possible. He had been laughing with glee as they exploded, particularly as he saw Sonic's eyes drop. It looked like Sonic had lost a lot of hope when the explosion had happened. Robotnik was flying about in his Egg-O-Matic as a missile collided with it. Dodging out of the way, a second flew past and collided with one of the platforms support turrets.

"That must be Bark now," Robotnik said to Sonic with a surprising amount of confidence for what was, even by Robotnik's own admission, an unexpected attack. "Everything's going exactly as I expected it to. I assume Knuckles is here as well." Robotnik knew this to be true already from a read out on his Egg-O-Matic's control panel. He could see when the camera's picked up movement, and had seen Knuckles break one of his airships turrets. Robotnik hastily dodged some of Barks machine gun fire, before bringing down some of the turrets so he could continue to mock Sonic.

"You see dear Sonic," Robotnik said spitefully, "Everything is to plan, you're here now, as is Tails, and Knuckles. So when this airship goes down, you'll all go down with it." Robotnik laughed evilly.

"So you plan to crash this thing into the ground then?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic, Sonic, Sonic," Robotnik laughed, "I'm not planning anything now. I'm doing it all."

Robotnik watched Bark draw closer, and land the bi-plane on the platform. The landing was mediocre at best. Robotnik made a sarcastic comment before bringing up six turrets to blow up the Tornado. Robotnik looked at the fire below them all. It looked so good to see everything ablaze like that.

"This is all part of the master plan Sonic, I'd love to explain it, but to be honest it's not going to make a difference. You can't stop me now, your fates sealed. This airship will crash into the remnants of the Metropolis zone, and unless my calculations are wrong, the resulting damage should spread my oily Mega Mack into the ocean properly. The sea will be ablaze Sonic!" Robotnik taunted. Pressing a button on the Egg-O-Matic's control panel, Robotnik had the turrets blast at the edge of the platform, and both Sonic and Bark scrambled for the supports as the platform fell to the ground below.

Robotnik flew close to Sonic, making sure to keep just outside of Sonic's jumping distance. With a mocking laugh he told Sonic that this would be how it would end for Sonic and his friends. Sonic gritted his teeth angrily, and Robotnik couldn't help but laugh before he flew off. Under normal circumstances Robotnik would've stayed and watched. He consoled himself knowing that he'd have the footage of his foes demise recorded by some of his Badniks. Robotnik flew off, still laughing.

Robotnik flew over the remnants of Westside Island. The fire raged fiercely, and Robotnik looked over the carnage he had created beneath him. Flying over what was once the Chemical Plant, Robotnik looked at it gleefully, before destroying a couple more parts of it, for the fun of it. Flying away he could see the slow decent of the airship. With time the ship would indeed crash into the Metropolis Zone. It had taken a lot of effort to strip the place of everything valuable, but almost everything essential had been moved to new locations. Once the fire had stopped burning, Robotnik intended to strip the island bare, and start rebuilding the place in his own image.

It was a good half hour before Robotnik arrived at his destination. Robotnik sat down in his chair, smiling. His plan was going as he intended it to the letter. Having the Metal Knuckles lure Knuckles to the airship was a masterstroke, as was having the same robot imprison Bark. The bug inside Tails' workshop had given him the information he needed on Tails' Tornado, and he'd managed to make a pinhole leak in the fuselage so small it was virtually undetectable. Putting the teleporter to the Floating Island had taken some doing, as had building the fake palace. It was dumb luck that he hadn't been noticed during its construction, and Knuckles' gullible ness had once again benefited Robotnik greatly.

The one thing Robotnik could not account for was the weird way in which the Chaos Emerald had reacted to him. If he had indeed been talking to his former self, Dr Kintobor, then he could not figure out why. What if Kintobor had managed to speak with anyone else like that? Robotnik dismissed these thoughts, it didn't matter either way. Sonic and his friends were dead now. Robotnik's plan was working beautifully.

The masterstroke of it lay in the subliminal bugs he'd used. Tiny, almost microscopic robots that had just one purpose, to play recorded messages while people slept. Initial testing had proved that you could marginally influence someone's actions by what they heard in there sleep. Robotnik had kept the messages vague, but it had all worked out, Knuckles had delayed Bark for long enough, Bark had helpfully taken Knuckles to the airship. Bean had managed to find the cherry picker. Tails had chosen not to fly the bi-plane back to his workshop. They didn't know it, but Robotnik had influenced all of them in making their decisions.

Robotnik's second airship was much more luxurious, and he'd kept it in hiding until now. Since the other airship had been built to crash; he needed this one. Robotnik sighed at the thought of all his technical ingenuity going to waste on something that was a suicide fall. He smirked again when he remembered who would be meeting their demise with such an action. Robotnik was now on the verge of creating his empire and his legacy, from the literal ashes of the past.

The best part of his plan though, was that none of the people on the airship would've noticed the sound of the millions of voices that sounded all around Mobius when the bomb blew up. The destruction of Westside Island, as fun as it was, was merely a cover noise. In the brief period of time that the explosion could be heard, Robotnik had activated millions of the subliminal bugs all over Mobius, all with the same message, 'Obey Robotnik.' Robotnik smirked, he now had millions of anthro's all willing to be turned into robots, and work for the Eggman Empire. All he had to do was line them up, and mechanise them all. If somehow Sonic did manage to escape, it'd be a shock to him when he found the populace of Mobius turn on him.

Of course, the explosion also covered up the noise of the latest rocket take off from Sonic's ears as well.

* * *

_What was in the rocket? Will Robotnik finally succeed? There's only one way to find it, keep reading.  
_


	32. Exit, emergency alert!

_The story so far: Bean has been ambushed after talking with Dr Kintobor. Meanwhile Robotnik's master plan is coming into motion._

* * *

Knuckles jumped out the doorway and threw his fists forwards to a glide. Feeling the air underneath him, Knuckles made his way for the doorway on the other end of the expanse. He watched the room explode behind him, and wondered about Tails. With a slam Knuckles landed on the wall, and began to move towards the door. He turned around to see Tails and watched Tails fly into the doorway that he himself had hoped to land in. Knuckles looked back to see the section of the airship they had just escaped from detach from the main body of the airship and fall to the ground.

"That's the second part that's fallen." Knuckles yelled to Tails. Tails didn't reply; he just stood in the doorway looking down to the ruins below, still alight. Knuckles walked in the doorway, and looked to Tails, before looking at the fire, and focusing again on where he was going.

"You don't care that everyone down there's dead do you?" Tails mumbled quietly.

Knuckles hesitated, unsure what to say, before telling Tails he could follow Knuckles if he wanted to. Tails followed, keeping quiet the whole time. They headed towards the front of the airship, hoping to find a way to land it, or at least a way off. It was a quiet journey, Knuckles seldom talked, and Tails didn't feel much like talking.

Sonic ran into Knuckles literally, which sent the pair fumbling down a set of steps. Tails followed; relieved to see Sonic was alive. Bark helped Knuckles to his feet, before Tails asked why Bark was following Sonic.

"Truth be told, I'm not sure," the polar bear answered, "But he managed to stop me falling to my demise in that fire anyway."

Sonic grinned slightly, not wanting to sing his own praises, but glad to hear someone else do it for him. He turned to Tails and asked him if he was okay.

"The whole of Westside Island has been destroyed Sonic," Tails said, distraught, "Everyone down there is dead or dying. We've lost. Robotnik's won. Game over."

Sonic glared at Tails. "It is not over," Sonic said angrily, "Yes it sucks, but unless we stop Robotnik's plans now, things could be much worse. South Island could suffer the same fate as Westside, and possibly even the whole of Mobius eventually." Tails nodded hearing this.

The ship rocked slightly, and Bark looked out one of the windows. Yelling frantically he alerted everyone to the fact that the ship was going down. Sonic suggested getting off the ship, but Tails had pointed out that he hadn't seen an escape pod in the whole time he'd been there.

"Then where'd Pin go?" Sonic asked; confused as to why Tails was no longer with him.

"Pin is actually Bean, Sonic," Tails answered.

Barks ears twitched. "And where is Bean?" He asked nervously, worried about his best friend.

"He grabbed a Chaos Emerald from the robotic Knuckles, and disappeared." Tails said.

"That's where your emeralds are Knux," Sonic said sarcastically, "same thing happened to me when I got sent to the Sky Sanctuary Zone. Only I ended up being spoken to…"

"By doctor Kintobor?" Bark finished. Sonic nodded, before Bark spoke again. "Same thing happened to me. I touched an Emerald, disappeared, and got spoken to by this Kintobor bloke. Who is he anyway?"

Before Sonic could explain to Bark, Knuckles cut in. "So that's where the yellow emerald went. Only I was spoken to in a bizarre voice that didn't make any sense."

"When Kintobor spoke to me, he spoke Babylonian." Bark explained.

Tails chirped in at this point, "That'd be where Robotnik went. Before you freed me Sonic; Robotnik was stood in front of me gloating, holding a red Chaos emerald. He disappeared, and you saved me."

"That still only explains the location of six of the emeralds," Knuckles said, clutching the grey emerald as he did, "We're still missing the one that disappeared around the time the floating island crashed onto the Green Hill Zone."

Everyone looked blank, and the ship shook again. Sonic suggested it'd be a good idea to get out of the ship again, assuring Bark that Kintobor wouldn't return Bean to somewhere as dangerous as this. Bark held his communicator in his hand, and decided he'd see if he could get a response from Bean. The device failed to get a reply, and Bark remembered what had happened during his encounter with Kintobor, as well as what had been said in the nothingness. Bark let the others lead insisting he'd catch up. Sonic shrugged and scouted ahead, looking for a viable exit. It was when he returned a couple of minutes later, that he saw everyone huddled around a device on Bark's wrist. Asking what's going on, Bark told him to watch as he rang his boss.

"Uh boss," Bark hesitated, he wasn't used to this sort of thing, "What are my orders again?"

Bark's boss sighed, and placed his head into his palm. "I just told you a minute ago, your orders are to _obey Robotnik._" The last two words were spoken in an almost robotic monotone voice, sending a shiver down Sonic's spine as he heard it. The communicator beeped as the signal was lost. Tails once again looked to the ground, and Sonic asked what it meant. Bark said it was the same for anyone he contacted, and Knuckles suggested it was probably the same for most, if not all of Mobius. Sonic's heart sunk. Robotnik would easily be able to take over the planet now; the people would just let him. Gritting his teeth, Sonic advised everyone to follow him to a teleporter he'd managed to find.

It took the four of them about ten minutes to trek through the airship, Tails slowly following Sonic, clearly still disheartened. Sonic had been trying to cheer Tails up the whole time, but nothing had worked. Knuckles followed behind Tails, still holding the Grey emerald, and staying alert to be sure he wouldn't lose that one. Bark trailed along behind, wondering where Bean would turn up, and hoping he was alright. The four walked into the room with the teleporter, and Bark recognised it as the place where he had been with the robotic Knuckles a short while ago. He told the three others with confidence that the teleporter would take them back to the Floating Island. Touching it he disappeared with a flash. Tails followed behind, dragging his feet slightly as he did. He held his paw out and tapped the purple orb, disappearing with a flash.

Sonic gestured to Knuckles, "After you," he said smirking.

Knuckles didn't say anything, and placed his paw on the glove. Nothing happened. He tapped it again, and again nothing happened. Knuckles smacked the orb with anger, and Sonic tried himself to see if he could get it to work, to no avail.

"The ships going down faster!" Knuckles yelled.

Sonic could only watch out the window as the ship began a fast decent towards Mobius. Sonic had scoured the ship for a better way off, choosing the teleporter as a last resort as he had no idea where it lead, not to mention his own dislike of being teleported. There was no other way out, and he knew neither he nor Knuckles would have any luck flying the airship. Sonic had to think how he could escape.

"One minute until impact," a computer voice said, reminding both Sonic and Knuckles of their impending demise.

* * *

_Where have Bark and Tails ended up? What will happen to Sonic and Knuckles? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	33. Experimental insanity

_The story so far: Robotnik's master plan is underway, while Sonic and Knuckles are looking for another way off the airship._

* * *

Bean stuck his hands up. One gunman he could deal with, five he would fight, but facing twenty alone; even he knew would be suicide to fight. One of the robots beeped loudly, and Bean was prodded in the back by a gun. He jumped forwards and looked to the robot, before walking slowly. Bean was escorted through many corridors. Along the way he saw through the windows what looked like factories assembling all sorts of weird machinery. Bean hummed quietly as he was escorted along, something which didn't seem to bother the robots. The salsa dancing, on the other hand, annoyed them greatly.

"You are ordered to halt all dancing," The robot advised in a monotone voice.

"Or else what?" Bean said, before having another gun waved in his face. Bean gulped, and realised just how serious the situation was. He stopped dancing hastily, but mentally visualised himself dancing, as well as all the robots walking with him dancing as well. This made Bean smile, and he happily wandered along the many twisty corridors. The place was filled with lots of faces of Robotnik, and Bean couldn't help but shiver at the sight of a couple of them.

The Egg-Robo took Bean to a small, dimly lit room. It was empty, and the only light came from a small window behind him. Bean turned to look out of it, but could only see grey skies between the metal bars on the window. Bean clutched onto them, only to receive a reasonable electric shock. Falling to the floor, he writhed in pain briefly, before attempting it again. After falling to the floor the fourth time, Bean gave up on trying to look out the window. He sat down, and began rolling an unlit bomb about on the floor. Whistling to himself Bean began to grow bored. He sat in the corner of the room, and wondered if he could blow the door off it's hinges. He decided against that after he remembered all the robots that were out there.

"You will come with us now." One of the Egg-Robo's said as the door slid open. Again holding Bean at gunpoint, Bean was lead down several flights of stairs, into an elevator. Bean chose this opportunity to hum some background music, until one of the Egg-Robo's clobbered him with its gun. Bean rubbed his head. The door slid open and Bean was held at gunpoint by the two Egg-Robo's that had escorted him.

Bean found himself in what appeared to be a large laboratory. All around him were test tubes, Bunsen burners boiling odd coloured chemicals in beakers, pieces of electrical wire was strewn all over the place. To Beans left sat a large device surrounded by what appeared to be a green force field. The device had many wires running through it, and was humming quietly. In the centre of the lab there was an overweight human wearing a large white lab coat. He was wearing a pair of black glasses, and on his head sat a pair of goggles. The man had a large orange moustache, which wiggled whenever his face moved. Bean recognised the man as doctor Robotnik.

"Well if it isn't Aythya Fuligula," Robotnik said, showing off his intellect. Bean turned around, wondering who the doctor was referring to. He assumed that Robotnik was talking to the two robots holding him in place. "You get to join my research group," Robotnik smirked. There was a loud scream from another room, which Bean assumed to be from a cat. "Don't worry about that," the doctor said confidently, "that's just another one of my test subjects, a female cat, would've been called Honey if she still existed. Once that experiment is over she should, by my calculations anyway, cease to exist on Mobius, as if she'd never existed at all. It worked before on my Badnik Splats, but this is the first time for organic life. It's an impressive device actually, takes time for it to do it's work though; Honey's been prisoner for three days now. I once used it to remove an entire chamber from Westside Island though," Robotnik paused, and looked at the ground bellow him, before looking Bean straight in the eye, "Not that that matters anymore; Westside Island no longer exists."

A part of Bean grew angry. Listening to Robotnik gloat about the genocide of an entire continents population, and the destruction of the cities and towns which formed the island was infuriating. Had he not been held at gun point, Bean would've been throwing bombs like a duck possessed. As it was, all Bean could do was sit there, and listen to Robotnik gloat about his victory.

"One thing still puzzles me though Bean," Robotnik said, walking closer to the captured duck, "Shortly before it's destruction, the metal Knuckles transmitted confirmation that you were aboard of the Flying-Egg V1, which was flying about ten thousand feet above Westside Island. As it so happens now, we're currently above Sunset Park Zone, which is a good two thousand miles away from Westside Island, inside the Flying-Egg V2," Robotnik paused, noticing Bean himself getting confused by all this, "How did you get here?" Robotnik asked bluntly, and angrily.

Bean shrugged, "I've no idea," the duck said, deciding it was best not to tell Robotnik anything. Robotnik dismissed the curiosity and proceeded to tell Bean various statistics. Part of him followed but for the most part Bean switched off and ignored this complicated speech. Robotnik spoke for nearly half an hour before the Egg-Robo's prodded him in the back and urged him forwards. Bean followed hesitantly, before one of them ordered him onto a chair. Various wires were attached to the duck; the robots taking little care to make sure Bean wasn't injured as they strapped him in.

"Under normal circumstances I would have you turned into an Orbinaut, but due to, shall we say, situations in your past," Robotnik said, stalling slightly, "I've decided you would benefit me better as a test subject." Robotnik wandered over to a control panel, an evil smirk running across his face. "Fake Chaos Emeralds are quite easy to make actually. Once you've made one, you can make a dozen. The same is true of ROCC's," Robotnik smirked. "You remember this device don't you Bean, it's what led to your exploduiophillia, or love for explosions," he said clarifying himself.

Beans eyes lit up hearing this. He did indeed love explosions, and as much as it had upset Pin to see it, Bean had loved the site of seeing Westside Island explode. The sheer intensity of the destruction of an entire continent had been visually pleasing and he could sit and watch the flames of that disaster for ages afterwards. Robotnik spoke again, but Bean was too busy recalling various explosions for his own amusement. Bean smirked, only stopping as Robotnik walked in front of him glaring.

The large machine glowed, slightly, and there was a beeping noise from one of the dials in the corner. Robotnik wandered over to a large computer monitor, and began to watch read-outs on the screen. Bean looked at the machine, it's force field drastically increasing in size, and alternating in colour quickly. Bean noticed a large collection of gold hoops swirling around the interior of the machine. Inside of them sat six multicoloured gems, each of them glowing dimly. Bean looked to Robotnik as he smiled triumphantly.

The force field slowly encroached over Beans arm. His arm pulsed purple inside the bubble, something which distressed Bean so much he blacked out.

* * *

_What is Robotnik's experiment? What will happen to Bean? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	34. Motivation doesn't come easy

_The story so far: Sonic & Knuckles have a minute to escape the airship. Meanwhile Bean is being used by Robotnik for experiments._

* * *

The Egg-Robo was the first thing Tails noticed when he reappeared from teleportation. Without hesitation he jumped and rolled into his own spin attack. Landing on its head he smashed it to pieces, a plant seed falling to the ground. Tails looked at it bewildered to how something like that could be the power source for a whole Badnik. A second Egg-Robo appeared, and fired at Tails. He narrowly jumped sideways to avoid the shot. Bark materialised atop next to the purple orb, and rolled to the ground as the shot blew up the orb. Tails jumped again for this Egg-Robo, once again smashing it to pieces. Bark got up off the ground.

"That was close," Bark said, dusting himself off. He spent a couple of seconds straightening his hat, "But now we have a problem. I think this orb thing is knackered after that," Bark said tapping the orb with his paw.

Tails looked at the orb, and made the instant connection. If the orb stopped working, then it was unlikely that Sonic or Knuckles would be able to get off the airship. Tails sat down, unable to take it in. Sonic had said the orb was the only way off the ship. By going first, Tails may have cost Sonic his life. Tails just stared vacantly into the distance. First he'd managed to crash the Floating Island onto the Green Hill Zone, killing anyone who had lived bellow. Then Robotnik had dropped that bomb, and had destroyed the whole of Westside Island, destroying it, and murdering all the people who lived there. Now Sonic, the only person who Tails thought would be able to stop Robotnik's plans would be unable to get off an airship on a collision course. Tails heart sank. He had doomed Mobius.

"Snap outta it!" Bark growled, clobbering Tails with a right hook, "last thing we need is another depressed hero about the place. Sonic'll be fine, you wait and see. Now you get up already, we don't have time to deal with this. Robotnik's out there somewhere, and he's got some sort of control over people which has to be stopped."

Tails nodded, not saying anything. Bark glared at him, and pulled him from his slump on the floor. Tails half heartedly smiled back, before looking where he was. The pair had arrived inside a large white room. Behind them there was a small barred window. Tails took one glance at the window before declaring it would electrocute anyone who touched it. Barked stood atop the orb, and looked out of the window, being careful not to touch the window. He turned back to Tails, announcing they were on an airship. Tails sighed, the teleporter had led them to another point in the ship, and it would only be a matter of moments before he died as well.

"Was it cloudy a second ago?" Bark asked. Tails got up and looked out the window, flying as close as he could. He looked to the ground and saw a series of palm trees, and plant life.

"This isn't the same airship!" Tails yelled, "Robotnik's probably here somewhere," he said confidentially.

"Then lets go stop him," Bark suggested. Tails nodded again, and led them out of the room, not quite sure where they where headed. Tails didn't want to admit he had no idea where he was going, but he knew if nothing else Robotnik had to be stopped. Many people may have died, but if Tails didn't do something, the whole of Mobius would be under Robotnik's control, and as Sonic regularly said, that was a fate worse than death. Tails wished Sonic was here now to lead the way, before shaking his head clear of that thought. Sonic was gone, Tails had to save the day now.

The pair wandered through corridors marked quite clearly with Robotnik's patented Eggman symbol. They dealt with the routine Egg-Robo's they encountered without meeting much resistance. The closest it got to a struggle was when they found themselves surrounded by four of the robots, something which ended when Bark threw Tails, and swung him by the tail, while Tails performed a spin attack due to the way his tails where joined, the very fact that enabled him to fly.

Bark was the one who noticed the lab, but Tails stopped Bark from entering. He hunched down by the door, and could hear Robotnik give a complicated speech on how thoughts were a type of energy. The science Robotnik was explaining went over Tails' head, and Tails was far from stupid. From his position Tails couldn't properly see who Robotnik was talking to, but he was sure that whoever it was Robotnik was talking to, it was likely they were a prisoner.

"Now what?" Bark whispered. Tails silenced him, waiting for Robotnik to give him the answer he wanted to explain what was going on. Unfortunately Robotnik didn't answer. He wandered away from the doorway, and out of Tails' line of sight. Tails peered around the corner, and saw Robotnik stand at a computer monitor, his back to Tails. A pair of Egg-Robo's escorted a green duck onto a chair. Bark also saw this, and went to rush in, but was again stopped by Tails. Bark pleaded with Tails, but Tails advised Bark not to do anything yet. Bark glared at Tails but stayed put.

Tails had to think what next. If he rushed in now it would do much worse than good, but the longer he sat here, the worse it could be for Bean. Tails had to make a decision. Unfortunately Bark had already made a decision, and had run into the room, much to the shock or Robotnik. The two Egg-Robos guarding Bean; ran forwards. Bark whacked them both out with a couple of powerful punches, knocking them flying. Alarms sounded around the place, and Tails decided joining Bark would be the best option. The central machine was glowing ominously, and a force field surrounded much of it, and now encompassed Beans body. A bright blue beam shot out from it, and struck Bean in the centre of the forehead.

Tails ran for the control panel near Robotnik. Robotnik however had other ideas and walloped Tails with a punch that sent him sprawling to the floor. A whole variety of badniks stormed the place, and Bark and Tails found themselves outnumbered. Robotnik made it to his Egg-O-Matic, and readied it for attack. Tails took his attention away from Robotnik for a second, and ran for the terminal. Smashing a Ball Hog in the process, Tails looked at the monitor. An Orbinaut struck him from behind knocking him forwards. His paw landed on the keyboard, and Tails looked up to see various warning signs flash on the screen. The force field from the machine extended to encompass Robotnik's Egg-O-Matic, and Bark sprawled forwards narrowly avoiding being caught in it himself. Both Tails and Bark fled the room, as the field swallowed everything inside it. There was a loud rumble as the whole ship rocked. From one of the windows Tails saw the sky flicker yellow briefly.

However surprising Tails thought seeing the sky change colour was; it did not prepare him for the shock that greeted him in the room, once the force field had died down.

* * *

_Can Tails and Bark save Bean? What has Tails seen? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	35. Crash landing

_The story so far: Bean has become one of Robotnik's experiments. Meanwhile Tails & Bark have teleported onto another airship._

* * *

"Come on," Knuckles yelled, "I've an idea." With that he punched through the glass window of the bridge of the ship. The computer voice reminded them they had just twenty seconds left until the ship crashed with the Metropolis Zone. Sonic nodded to Knuckles, and followed him as he jumped out the window. Knuckles instinctively threw his fists forwards into a glide. Sonic prepped himself into a spin dash, and revved through the window, taking more of the glass with him. He shot ahead of Knuckles briefly, but fell to the ground before Knuckles did. This didn't bother Sonic, and he hit the ground with a roll, leaping to his feet and sprinting as fast as he could. Knuckles landed next to him, and too began to run as fast as he could. They both headed for a large, deserted, red suspension bridge, which would lead the pair to the safety of the Great Turquoise Zone.

Sonic turned around running, and looked to Knuckles, taunting him to a race to the end of the bridge. As he did he saw the airship make it's collision with the remnants of the Metropolis Zone. The entire zone went up in flames instantly, further adding to the destruction Robotnik had caused earlier. Large pieces of scrap metal flew into the air, and the bridge wobbled slightly. The explosion began to engulf the bridge. Knuckles jumped clean out of the way of a piece of falling rubble, striking his fist to the ground. A dark purple slime leaked out from it. Sonic stopped briefly to look at it, before grabbing hold of Knuckles' wrist and sprinting quickly.

"Mega Mack!" Sonic yelled to Knuckles, "this bridge will explode with that fire," he said, Knuckles tilted his head to see what Sonic was referring to, and noticed the wall off fire coming towards them. More rubble struck the ground, and the bridge soon became an obstacle course, rather than the simple sprint Sonic had hoped for. Leaping over another piece of rubble, Knuckles pulled Sonic out of the course of another bit. Sonic nodded appreciatively as he did. There was an explosion a few feet in front of them, which at the speed they were travelling was quickly behind them. Sonic and Knuckles looked up to the source of the explosion, and noticed a squadron of badniks giving chase.

"Looks like we've got company," Sonic said dryly.

"Thought this was getting boring," Knuckles quipped, ever eager to outdo Sonic. Sonic smirked; this race was becoming more interesting by the second. Narrowly dodging to one side, Sonic leapt over another missile. It sent rubble flying, which Knuckles had to leap over to avoid. Knuckles climbed one of the support beams struts, and leapt into the air, landing on-top of an Egg-Robo, before falling back onto the bridge. Rolling on the ground he narrowly dodged what looked like the remnants of the metal Knuckles; Knuckles smirked and kicked the bot as he ran.

Sonic leapt into a spin attack and smashed one of the Flybots roaming about. He looked to Knuckles, still clutching that Grey Emerald for all he was worth. It was glowing strongly, something which puzzled Sonic. Then he noticed something flicker in the squadron, leaping onto a piece of rubble he leapt for a second piece, and jumped as high as he could. Colliding with an Egg-O-Matic, he knocked a robot flying out of the driver's seat, and saw it clutching the missing Chaos Emerald. The robot landed near the fire. Sonic leapt out of the Egg-O-Matic, and ran towards the fire.

"What on Mobius are you doing Sonic?" Knuckles yelled.

"That robot had a Chaos Emerald, I have to go and get it." Sonic smirked hastily.

Knuckles growled angrily at Sonic's rash decision, then remembered his race, and continued running. Sonic meanwhile dodged pieces of rubble, and shots from more robots to retrieve the emerald. A piece of robot landed next to him, and Sonic saw Knuckles gliding above him. Sonic slid towards the emerald, and in one fluid motion grabbed it from the floor, the flames just inches from him. Knuckles saw Sonic run for the emerald, and smacked into another Egg-Robo. Using it as a means to turn round, Knuckles again looked to were Sonic was, to see nothing but fire. Knuckles slowly made his decent to the bridge, and yelled out for Sonic with no reply.

Landing on the bridge Knuckles saw and Island on the horizon. The first thing he noticed was the large airship hanging above the island. He looked at it intently as a blue beam fired from the top of it. The sky flickered yellow for a moment, startling Knuckles, before reverting back to blue. Knuckles felt a weird shiver run down his body, and looked at the Chaos Emerald he was holding. It too had flickered in colour, and Knuckles himself had noticed his own skin glow ever so slightly.

Knuckles had managed to get several feet in front of the fire, and had come up with a simple plan to stop it. He jumped into the air for all his worth and, struck the ground with a powerful punch. The bridge cracked and swayed. Knuckles kept running towards the horizon, clearing a good fifty feet before he repeated the smack to the ground. This crack sent the bridge wobbling, and the section between the two cracks gave way, plummeting into the water below. Knuckles watched the fire consume up to the bridges end, and smirked as the fire could go no further. Knuckles jumped to the right as a large piece of metal landed in front of him, scaring him.

Another missile struck the bridge in front, reminding Knuckles he wasn't safe yet. Knuckles ran forwards dodging missile after missile, and swiping away at a couple of mouse like Technosqueaks with his fists. Knuckles jumped onto the suspension cable, and quickly ran along it to the top of the support beam. Closing his eyes, Knuckles jumped and curled in to a ball, landing straight atop one Flybot, and bouncing into another. As he fell he grabbed one of the Egg-Robo's by the feet, dragging it down with him. As he landed he swung it round and it got flung into the water, sparking as it landed before going under.

Knuckles was now within sight of the island. He could already see the palm trees of the Great Turquoise Zone. He began to wonder how he was going to get to that airship. Knuckles knew he'd get his answers onboard the ship, even if he didn't know what they were, or why. He needed to know though, if not for his sake, but for the Emeralds. Knuckles looked again to the grey emerald. It glowed brighter now, a sign that he was drawing closer to the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles suddenly remembered what had happened to Sonic; he had run into the fire to retrieve one of them. What if the fire had destroyed that emerald? If that was the case everything would be thrown out of balance, and all his searching for the emeralds would be for nothing.

Knuckles leaped over a barricade, and landed in some soft sand. He darted through some thick foliage, and waited for a second, catching his breath. Through the trees he saw the Badnik squadron make there entrance to the airship. Suddenly Knuckles got an idea. Convinced the ground underneath the airship would be patrolled by robots he made his way directly under the ship. He jumped out in plan site as twelve different Badniks looked at him. Dropping to his knees he surrendered. As he thought they would; the robots took him prisoner, and flew him up to the airship, hands tied together.

The second he got in the doorway, he jumped onto his hands, and used them as a springboard to kick one of the Egg-Robo's onto a Shellcracker. It shot its larger claw forwards, smashing the Egg-Robo clean in two, and provided Knuckles the way to undo his tie up fists. Knuckles jumped clear of its claw, and landed a spin attack onto the robot, smashing it to pieces. With another punch he knocked two more robots out of the way, and began to run through the airships corridors, using the increasing glow of the grey emerald as a compass.

Stopping to a halt, he wished he hadn't followed the grey emerald. Knuckles stood stunned as he looked inside what he could only be a laboratory.

* * *

_Has Sonic survived the blast? Just what is going on in that lab? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	36. Nothingnessness

_The story so far: Bark and Tails have witnessed something shocking in Robotnik's lab. Meanwhile Knuckles has managed to get onboard the airship._

* * *

The lack of any sort of temperature in the nothingness comforted Sonic. Just moments before he'd very nearly got burnt to pieces by the fire that was engulfing the bridge between the ruins of the Metropolis Zone, and the Great Turquoise Zone. Now Sonic floated aimlessly, waiting for, what he assumed was, Dr Kintobor to speak. Sonic contemplated the events of the last few days. What had begun with a simple curiosity had led him over much of Mobius. Sonic had been through a lot, and was no closer to stopping Robotnik's latest plan. Sonic hadn't even figured out what it was. So far Robotnik had stolen one of the Chaos Emeralds, and had destroyed Westside Island. Other than a couple of random Badnik attacks this was very uncharacteristic of Robotnik. However his success at destroying Westside Island still infuriated Sonic, and if one bridge had contained a flow of explosive Mega Mack, what was to stop others? Sonic contemplated the idea of Robotnik readying every continent for destruction and shuddered.

"My dear Sonic," The voice said again.

"Dr Kintobor," Sonic said, acknowledging the voice to be his old friend, "it's been too long dude."

"Indeed, but now is not the time for pleasantries. I'm sure you have noticed that Robotnik is up to no good again."

Sonic nodded, and the voice continued, telling Sonic much of what he already knew. Kintobor explained to Sonic how Robotnik was controlling the populace of Mobius, as well as explaining to Sonic how to break Robotnik's control. Sonic sort of followed, and tried to remember as much of it as possible. While he himself didn't have the technical know how, he was sure Tails would know how to reverse Robotnik's subliminal messages.

"It's up to you Sonic; you are the most adept of the Servers of Chaos. You are the only one who can harness the power to counter Robotnik's plan." Kintobor said calmly.

"But what is his plan?" Sonic asked, "I still have no idea what he's up to. Please Kintobor; tell me what's going on?"

"I can't, not here. If I tell you here, it will be heard." Kintobor said reluctantly, "It's a sacrifice I have to make. We all have a sacrifice to make Sonic, for the greater good. If I could tell you all you wanted, I would, but this is not my realm, and… urrgh."

"Kintobor!" Sonic yelled, guessing from the tone that Kintobor was in a great deal of pain.

"You must go now Sonic," Kintobor stuttered, his voice becoming increasingly gravely, "I cannot guarantee your safe return, but I'll try to put you some…"

The nothingness disappeared with a flash. Sonic fell to the ground with a bump. He got up rubbing his back. "Kintobor was right about a safe return," he mused to himself, "now where am I?" Sonic got up, rubbing his back slightly, and looked around. He was stood in an expansive corridor, each wall with the Eggman symbol on it. Sonic shivered in disgust, and began to explore. He didn't have to run too far before he encountered a single Crabmeat. He span into it like it wasn't worth his time and continued searching. Running up two flights of stairs he entered a room labelled as the observation deck. The room itself was surrounded by glass windows. Sonic looked out them. The sky to the left was grey and cloudy; to the right it was clear and blue.

Sonic saw a blue beam fire from in front of him, towards the tail end of the ship. It shot into the sky, and disappeared out of sight in the distance. The blue sky flickered yellow briefly, and the clouds turned white before the colour returned to normal. For a split second, Sonic felt a surge of power run through him. Deciding it would be a good idea to see what caused such a thing, Sonic ran back down the stairs, and towards the source of the light beam. Running through the corridors he stopped briefly to smash open a pair of Blastoids, before sprinting to the end of the corridor. He jumped down another flight of stairs, and turned left, down another corridor. Leaping off the walls he narrowly dodged the fire of an Orbinaut, before hitting it with a perfectly executed spin attack.

Sonic couldn't be too sure where he was headed, but when he spotted Bark and Tails he was pretty sure he was in the right place. He put his paw on Tails' shoulder, causing the young fox to jump in fright, before grabbing Sonic.

"Glad to see you too li'l bro. What'd I miss?" Sonic asked casually.

Before anyone could answer a voice yelled out "stop him before he grabs those gems!"

Instinctively Sonic ran into the room, noticing Knuckles doing the exact same thing. Sonic grabbed a green emerald that lay in the room. A bomb rolled across the floor, knocking Sonic backwards, and sending the emerald flying. Tails went to grab it, but was beaten by a green duck with badly ruffled feathers clutching a bomb.

"Hand over all the emeralds and I will make your deaths quick and painless" The duck shrieked madly.

"Bean, what on Mobius are you playing at?" Bark yelled, almost annoyed by the duck.

"You fool, you blind fool!" The duck yelled even more angrily, "For three years I was kept at bay by you, but now, thanks to these wonderful Gems I am the dominant one. Perfectly stable, perfectly in control, and yet so perfectly chaotic." The duck smirked, as he grabbed another gem from the floor. "Bean is gone, Pin is now in control!" he shouted maniacally. With another bomb blast he managed to snag the two Knuckles had picked up.

The grey emerald was also knocked to the floor. In the confusion Sonic lost track of it, and cursed himself inwardly. Bark had one of the gems, and taunted Pin with it, leading him out of the room. Sonic could hear Bark fighting with Pin outside. It was obvious to Sonic that Bark knew how to deal with Bean, and thus would be capable of handling Pin. Sonic looked to the ruins of the lab, and saw Robotnik's body get up slowly.

"It's been so long since I've had a physical form, it's difficult to readjust to it," the doctor said calmly, "I wasn't this out of shape when I left it was I?" he pondered.

"Okay Eggman, you've got some serious explaining to do. Just what is all this stuff? What's your game this time?" Sonic asked angrily.

"Sonic I don't know. I can't remember. I don't know how to prove it, but trust me, I am Dr Kintobor." Robotnik said.

Surprisingly it was Knuckles who was first to question this, and asked Robotnik for proof he was indeed now Kintobor. Tails nodded, also wanting further proof.

"Listen Sonic, as one of the Servers of Chaos you need to believe me. If I were truly Robotnik, would I be so willing to hand you this?" he asked, offering up the grey emerald to Sonic.

Tails looked over to one of the computer monitors and briefly looked through some of the documents. "Listen to this Sonic, apparently that machine was a Neo Orbital Chaos Compressor. According to these files Robotnik wanted to replicate the ROCC explosion in a controlled field. Unless I'm very much mistaken, from what you've told me of the ROCC explosion, it turned Kintobor into his negative, Robotnik. Since he's got hit by a second blast, this man here is indeed Dr Kintobor."

* * *

_Is it really Dr Kintobor? Just what has gotten into Bean? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	37. Bomb dodging 101

_The story so far: Knuckles has managed to get onto the airship. Meanwhile Robotnik is claiming to be Kintobor._

* * *

Bark knew the best thing for everyone was to get this crazy (well crazier, if Bark was being honest with himself), version of Bean away from the ruins of the lab. Bark had lured Bean away with one of the gems Bean had so desperately wanted. Bark still couldn't figure out why Bean was so desperate for it, but he figured he could stall Sonic a bit of time to figure out what was going on and reverse it. Bean of course didn't want anything more than the gem Bark was clutching, and was willing to do all he could to get it. Hurling another bomb, Bean chased after Bark. Bark ducked and tried to reason with the duck to no use.

"Would you knock it off already Bean, I don't wanna have hurt you." Bark said calmly, blocking an attempted punch from Bean.

"I don't care you stupid bear. I just want that gem, and for the last time the name is Pin now!" he quacked angrily back at Bark, before pecking him madly with his beak. Bark knocked the duck off with a powerful left hook, and sent him into the wall. Bark ran further down the corridor, and ran into one of the rooms. Pin followed behind, lobbing bombs wherever he could. Bark jumped clear of one, and ducked straight under another. He entered a doorway, and hid behind it waiting. Pin followed him into the room, barely having time to find Bark before Bark smacked pin with a hard kick. He wouldn't admit it, but this made up for every single time Bean had eaten cheese before sleeping, and thus spending the night clucking like a rooster. Bark smirked, he'd just figured out how to stop Bean from doing that.

The smile was knocked from Bark's face with a blow to the stomach. Bark fell to the floor winded. Pin stood over him; a bomb in his left hand. "Any last words?" The duck scowled.

Bark looked to Pin, and smirked, "Yeah, duck," he said confidently. Pin stood there waiting for Bark to finish the sentence. It didn't happen however, as a small robot flew into the back of Pin's skull with some considerable force. Bark smiled, "you always were an idiot Bean" he taunted.

"The name is Pin!" Pin screamed furiously, his entire body tensing up with anger, "Bean is gone forever, and won't ever be back. Now hand over that _damn_ chaotic emerald."

Bark looked to his paw. The gem in his hand dimly glowed, and Bark remembered what Knuckles had told him about the Chaos Emeralds. He also remembered what Kintobor had told him about Pin, and decided that keeping the duck away from the gem was a good idea, even if it wasn't a Chaos Emerald. Bark jumped backwards as Pin let loose another flurry of bombs. Pin grew angrier, and ran in pounding Bark incessantly with his hands. Bark swung his right arm and knocked Pin flying. Bark knew he was the muscle, and also the brains of the pair of them. In a straight fight such as this, the only advantage Bean would have would be his explosives, and this was how this fight between Bark and Pin was fairing. Bark threw another punch at Pin, and he landed square on the floor. Bark stood triumphantly over Pin, and requested Pin surrender. Pin began to cower beside Bark.

"Oh God the voices…the voices are coming. I can't stop them, they don't stop," Pin panicked as his body spasmed uncontrollably. He grabbed hold of Bark, "Make them stop. Please stop them, I'll do anything. Just stop the voices." he panicked frantically, before screaming loudly.

Bark could only watch as Pin's eyes shut tightly. Slowly they reopened, and the duck stood up calmly, dusting off it's feathers. Bark watched him curiously as he did, letting him sort himself, but still ready to stop the duck should he decide to attack. The duck looked at Bark, and opened it's beak.

"I can't stay like this for long Bark," The duck said calmly, yet with a worried tone to it's voice, "I can only keep Pin held back for so long, so please listen. You need to have the Prime Server of Chaos, you know him to be Sonic the Hedgehog, to turn that machine back on. The whole of Mobius has been exposed to a trace amount of Chaos energy. It will slowly corrupt every person, plant, and being on the planet," The duck winked and shook it's head violently, trying to fight off unseen forces. Bark could only watch the duck struggle to stay in control of himself.

"Listen to me Bark. That machine must go back on, and the experiment must be re-done irrespective of cost," Bean said solemnly, "If everything is as before, then the populace of Mobius will live free without Chaos. It is the only way to save the plan… argh!" Bean screamed, before collapsing to the floor. Bark watched a sinister smile sweep across Bean's face, and correctly assumed the duck wanted to battle him again. Bark tensed up, and dodged two of the bombs flung at him. Pin cursed Bean for being able to gain some control, before again swiping for Bark. Bark took his chances and slid right under the duck; Pin jumping just in time to avoid being knocked over. Bark got up and ran back towards the lab, with Pin following lobbing bombs as quickly as he could pull them from the piece of pocket space he retrieved them from. One of the bomb's blew up a wall in the ship, revealing a group of Badniks ready to attack. They all crawled out of the whole, and went for both Bark and Pin.

"Pin, you really are an idiot," Bark said monotone. He smirked slightly saying it, realising it was a different name was a breath of fresh air in what Bark had accepted to be a stale and repetitive catchphrase.

Two Slicers climbed out through the hole, and threw there bladed arms like boomerangs. The narrowness of the corridor, and the sheer speed and randomness of the blades pattern made dodging them difficult, and both Pin and Bark took several blows from the blades before they returned. Pin threw two bombs and blew up the Slicers, something Bark thanked him for. Another couple of badniks walked out the hole. They were both simple Egg-Robos, and they both fell to the floor instantly when Bark slammed the two together. A Coconuts kept Pin busy for a while, matching Pin bomb for bomb. The last Badnik to crawl out of the hole made Bark shiver. It inched slowly forwards, each section of it's pink body, moving up and down rhythmically.

"Caterkiller!" Bark panicked. A series of memories flashed in front of Barks eyes. Being trapped inside one of those things for nearly three months, watching everything it did yet having no control at all. He imagined that's how Bean must be feeling right now. Bark grew angry, and raised his fists over his head. He jumped while slamming them down on the head of the Caterkiller, smashing the robots head to pieces. The spiked sections fell to the floor, and Bark picked up the seed he'd found in the ruins, keeping it as a souvenir. He didn't have time to focus too long though, as Pin managed to jump on him, and peck his head furiously. Bark swung his arms at Pin to get the duck off of him, and Pin took this chance to prise the green gem Bark had been clutching from his hand. Taunting victoriously, Pin clutched the gems in victory, and closed his eyes. Though they weren't full Chaos Emeralds, they did contain some Chaos energy, and Bark had heard stories of what happened to people when they used Chaos energy.

Nevertheless Bark was still stunned when Pin appeared in front of him, his whole body glowing purple.

* * *

_Can Bark stop Pin? Will Bean be able to take control again? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	38. Just like old times

_The story so far: Robotnik has become Dr Kintobor again. Meanwhile Bean has turned into Pin._

* * *

"I'm very sorry Knuckles, but it's important that Sonic has the control emerald," Kintobor said, his moustache wriggling as he spoke.

"How do we know you're not going to turn on us Robotnik?" Knuckles asked uneasy.

"Makes a change for Knuckles to be in doubt about something," Tails whispered to Sonic.

Sonic ignored Tails' comment, "Listen to him Knuckles, that is Kintobor, we've been over this already. Robotnik is gone; all we have to do is undo this mess, and then finish what Kintobor started a long time ago."

"And what about Bean?" Tails asked.

Sonic nodded, "yeah we'll have to reverse that too.

"I can do that; just bring him back here with those fake chaos emeralds." Kintobor said, still adjusting to having a physical form, "I suggest you search this ship for Bean and Bark, their may not be much energy in them, but Bean is still capable of tapping into it if he tries hard enough. If he does Bark will need your help."

Knuckles left eagerly, and Tails followed behind, insisting that he helped, Knuckles wasn't too pleased with this, but Tails had noticed something else he didn't want to mention with Sonic in earshot. Sonic looked to Kintobor, as he tinkered with components. Nothing changes, thought Sonic, as Kintobor went back into routine as if he'd never left his body. Kintobor found a toolkit and began to reassemble the Compressor. Working with surprising speed for a man of his figure, Kintobor managed to get the intricacies assembled quickly. However this wasn't quick enough for Sonic who stood there tapping his foot. Sonic asked Kintobor what exactly he was doing, and Kintobor explained what had happened and how to fix it. Sonic asked for the simple version, and still got lost in the explanation.

"Stupid question," Sonic said, "but what was it actually like to be in those emeralds?"

Kintobor put down his wrench for a moment and turned to Sonic, "I can't quite explain it Sonic. It took all my willpower to keep everyone in just the nothingness. Without the nothingness it's like looking at a surrealist painting," Kintobor paused, seeing the confusion on Sonic's face, "like those paintings with the melting clocks. If you can imagine being surrounded by that sort of thing for a prolonged period of time you have life inside the emeralds in a nutshell. I'm just thankful Chaos is in the master emerald." Kintobor said nervously.

Sonic nodded, before asking, "Where are the Chaos Emeralds anyway?"

"As I tried to tell Knuckles when all this began, they are safe inside minor alternate realities. Unfortunately everything said inside the emeralds is Babylonian due to the nature of there makers. You see the Echidna's stole the Chaos Emeralds from the Babylonians to keep the energy of the Master Emerald in balance. It's all quite interesting really if you…"

"Kintobor, you're babbling again" Sonic said, sighing slightly.

Kintobor blushed"Oops, sorry. Anyway as I was saying; you can access the emeralds dimension if you can find how they've made there entrance. Unfortunately it's up to the grey emerald to make the entrance method, and since that is currently in your possession it'll be tricky to get to them. You'll have to surrender the grey emerald to that dimension to get the other six. We could always just lock that one inside a warp of confusion though." Kintobor suggested, remembering his original plans for the emeralds.

"That'd annoy Knuckles" Sonic smirked.

"Ah yes, the Floating Island; that had slipped my mind." Kintobor said, dismissing his old idea.

Sonic sat down for a bit, keeping an eye on all the entrances to the room, watching for Tails' return, or if the evil version of Bean would show up. He also watched as Kintobor worked meticulously on trying to fix the machine. For the most part the machine hadn't sustained any major damage, but various components had fallen off, and the tools Kintobor had in this lab weren't intricate enough to do the job. Kintobor has quickly sussed that Robotnik must have got his robots to build this machine for him while he designed other things. It would explain how he'd built it so quick, it had taken Kintobor initially three years to design and build the ROCC, and this one had not only been knocked up in a few hours, but was also much more efficient than the old model Kintobor had worked on.

A few parts of this machine didn't make sense to Kintobor though. Some of the functions appeared to be concerned with amplification, and as far as Kintobor could tell this machine was integrated to at least three other devices on the airship, and countless many in the lab. Kintobor could understand the second part, as he remembered the machine to still be in the experimental phase. Kintobor still had several of Robotnik's memories, though lots of them didn't seem to be complete. Much of Robotnik's more recent activities where hazy and a blur to Kintobor, something which had frustrated Sonic when he'd asked Kintobor to tell them exactly what was going on.

Kintobor wiped the sweat from his brow, the body he'd inherited from Robotnik was not in the best of shape, and all this physical activity was really tiring Kintobor out. "I don't suppose there's any food anywhere?" he asked Sonic sheepishly.

Sonic took that as a hint and got up. "What do you fancy?" he asked Kintobor.

"Anything bar egg," Kintobor said, as the pair of them laughed uneasily at the familiarity of this situation. It was an incident like this before that had turned Kintobor into Robotnik, and neither of them wanted a repeat performance of that accident.

Sonic couldn't find anything in the lab edible, and had suggested searching the whole airship, which Kintobor had declined; it would be better if Sonic stayed with Kintobor just in case something happened. Kintobor wouldn't say too much on it, but he was confident that for as long as Sonic was here with the grey emerald things would be fine.

The squadron of gun totting Egg-Robo's that marched into the lab was one of many reasons why Kintobor was glad Sonic stayed. Kintobor wasn't looking quite so hopeful by the time the thirtieth robot had marched in, all guns pointing at Sonic.

* * *

_How will Sonic get out of this one? Can Kintobor fix the NOCC? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	39. Taking control of the controller

_The story so far: Bark has kept Pin busy. Meanwhile Kintobor has repaired the NOCC._

* * *

Knuckles and Tails ran through the corridors of the ship. Much of this ship was either storage, or manufacturing. It looked like the airship had been designed as a mobile fortress. Judging by the level of detail shown in this airship, Tails assumed that this was originally intended to be Robotnik's main fort from the start of the madness of the last two days. Sprinting through the corridors Tails checked down all available routes for signs of Bean and Bark. Tails grabbed hold of Knuckles' arm when he heard a minute clicking coming from one of the rooms. Tails prised the door open slowly, to find the room deserted. Walking in, he looked to the source of the clicking. It was a large computer, with millions of wires all feeding into a device it was hooked to. The entire device looked like it was set to control a global network. Tails couldn't help but look at the screen.

"Hey Knuckles check this," Tails said, urging Knuckles inside.

Knuckles hesitated for a moment before following him in, "this had better be good," he declared, not wanting to sit and look at a computer aimlessly.

"This device appears to be hooked up to the entire planet," Tails said, worried about what it did, "and listen to this: 'Microphone ready to record. Receptors active: fifty two thousand, four hundred and sixteen. Receptors failing: three hundred and four. Total percentage of receptors failing: zero point five, seven, six, six, to four significant figures. Press microphone on to transmit new message.' You think we should?"

"Tails I don't even know what that means," Knuckles said, confused by all the numbers.

"Don't you see," Tails said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Robotnik has managed to set up a system of hypnotic devices around Mobius. With this device he's controlling everyone." Tails explained. He looked through the computer files further. Scanning his eyes over the monitor Tails jumped up excited, "I know how to stop it," Tails said confidently. Tails grabbed a walkie-talkie he'd seen under the computer, and checked it worked. With static fuzz it flicked to life. Tails handed it to Knuckles.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" the Echidna asked. Tails pointed to the monitor, and said that somewhere in the floor above there was an access hatch. Tails told Knuckles to go to it, and wait for further instructions. Knuckles took that as his cue to leave, and Tails continued looking at the computer.

Tails figured it'd be a few minutes before he would hear from Knuckles. Skim-reading through articles he looked through various files. Pulling a memory card from out of his glove, Tails inserted it into the computer. With a few taps of the keyboard and some mouse clicks, he had stored many of the files onto the card. Tails would sort through them later. One file Tails did look through gave him the combination to a safe sat in the corner of the room.

Tails knelt over the safe. "Right nineteen, right sixty five, left nine, right seventeen," he said aloud spinning the safe as he did. Opening the door he looked inside. There was a small piece of card. Tails wondered what could be so special about it to warrant an entire safe. Tails read the card. "Sorry, but as the old adage goes 'finders keepers'. Hugs and kisses, Rouge." Tails put the card down, "figures," he said quietly.

"Tails you there," the radio crackled amidst the static. Tails rushed over to the walkie-talkie.

"Roger that Echidna, I'm here, you found the access hatch?" Tails asked.

"Who one Mobius is 'Roger'?" came the reply through the radio. Tails slapped his paw to his face, and dragged the paw down his face. Tails should've expected Knuckles not to understand radio code.

"I've found this hatch," Knuckles said, "now what?"

"On my signal I want you to destroy it," Tails replied.

"I needed this radio for that? I can do that job now,"

"Don't!" Tails yelled, "It needs to be timed perfectly. When I say 'now', you smash it."

"Got it" Knuckles responded.

Tails began to tap away on the keyboard furiously. He knew Knuckles patience would wear out soon enough. Tails then picked up to the microphone, and held it to his mouth. "Don't obey Robotnik," Tails said calmly, trying to keep his tone as flat as possible. Tails let go of the microphone, and saved the recording. Picking up the radio, he flicked it on to static. "Still there?" he called out in to the device.

"Yep," Knuckles said, make his agitation known.

Tails counted down into the radio, upon reaching one he pressed execute on the keyboard. The whole room shot to life, with millions of LED's all flashing as Tails' message was sent across the planet. Tails yelled into the walkie-talkie for Knuckles to destroy the hatch, and the control panel inside. There was a loud explosion heard above Tails. Frantically he picked up the radio and called for Knuckles. Tails got no reply. Hundreds of images raced through Tails' head, and he realised he needed to get upstairs and find out what had happened to Knuckles. He saw the computer say 'message sent' and then saw an error message flash up as he raced out the room. Tails was relieved at least to know that, unless he was very wrong on how the machine worked, he'd just broken Robotnik's control over the people of Mobius.

Running up the stairs Tails turned the corner to where the access panel was on the plans. Locating a grate on the floor, he looked to see a small electrical device whirr out of life. Knuckles had obviously managed to destroy the device, but looking at it there was no way that could've produced the sort of explosion. Tails turned around, and began looking for Knuckles, calling out his name to see if he'd disappeared. Tails found the walkie-talkie on the floor. It had been broken.

Tails felt something make contact with the back of his head. He screamed "ouch" as his eyes shut and he faded out of consciousness.

* * *

_Where has Knuckles gone? Has Tails stopped the mind control? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	40. Barking orders

_The story so far: Sonic has been surrounded in the lab. Meanwhile Tails has destroyed the mind controll device._

* * *

Bean could only watch as Pin soaked up the power contained in the gems he'd succeeded in getting. Bean was aware there were supposed to be seven emeralds, so for Pin to be able to utilize the power of just six fake emeralds was rather impressive. Bean had found himself overwhelmed by the amount of calm he now possessed, even if he was a prisoner in his own mind. Taking control of Pin, if just for a few seconds to tell Bark of the true effect of the NOCC, had made him weary, and it would be a little while before he could attempt it again. For now Bean could only watch as Pin reigned down bomb after bomb at Bark. The enhanced speed and invincibility that the fake emeralds offered Pin was certainly nothing compared to what he could get from the real Chaos Emeralds, but for now this didn't seem to phase Pin.

The total negative effect of the full explosion had swapped Pin's mind for Bean's, and vice versa. Before this Bean had been the eccentric who had an inability to concentrate, while Pin was the clever, logical side that could do that. Now of course Pin was acting more and more irrationally, while Bean was back to his old self before the explosion of many years ago. If he didn't have to watch Pin try to kill his best friend, Bean would've enjoyed being back to his old self. It had been a while since he had been able to think straight, and Bean was relieved to escape from his chaotic mind. Bean understood how the Chaos energy worked, and he knew that the only way for him to regain full control of his body would be to experience yet another explosion. This would probably cost him his sanity, but this was better than watching Pin go on a murderous rampage.

Bean watched as Pin flew over Bark, dropping bomb after bomb. Bark tried his best to fight Pin off, but Pin was now invincible. Watching Bark suffer through what was basically his own hands tore Bean up inside. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he still felt very guilty. Bark begged for mercy from Pin. Bean figured he'd try to take control briefly now. Unfortunately all Bean could do, thanks to his tiredness, was make Pin hesitate on throwing a bomb.

This was all Bark needed though, and with a kick to the abdomen, Pin was sent to the floor. While it might not have hurt due to being invincible, Pin was still startled and the forces of physics sent him backwards. Pin shook his head as he got up, something that made Bean loose focus. Pin gave pursuit, intently. Bark ran back to the lab as fast as he could. Pin followed him back, blinded by rage, and Bean hoped that in the time since they'd left, someone had managed to find a way to at least stall Pin. Pin's anger got the better of him and he shot forwards six bombs. They all rolled past Bark, and the polar bear run away from them, sliding underneath Pin as the explosion wrecked the airship. Pin's invincible body had served as a shield for Bark from the explosion.

"Why won't you let me kill you?" Pin shrieked. Bark didn't say anything and just continued running, jumping over exposed cables and fallen wall plaster. The bombs had taken there toll on this corridor. A pair of Maintenance bots appeared quickly to rectify the damage, but with another bomb Pin blew them away as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Bark shielded himself from much of the debris, and ran around the corner. He hid behind a large container, and waited. Pin followed around the corner, and Bark gave him the slip. Pin saw Bark dart away from the corner of his eye, and lit another bomb.

Bean took another attempt at making the switch. Mustering up as much energy as he could Bean got back into the control room of Pins mind. The layout had changed since the last time he was there, and the place was more haphazardly designed. Everything glowed an ominous purple. Bean accessed the computer terminal in the centre of the room. Again typing 'poloi', Bean watched as matter faded away.

Coming to once again in control of his own body, Bean felt a sensation like never before. The feeling of containing such raw energy and power flowed through Bean. It was an unusual, yet not unnatural sensation. Bean felt as though this was how he was supposed to feel in life. Bean felt as though he could survive anything, and knowing the power of chaos energy, he probably would. Bean looked to Bark, and threw the bomb behind him. Bark had made the realisation that Bean was in control again, and got up from the floor. Bean knew he wouldn't be in control for too long, and he handed Bark the gems. Beans body flicked back to its natural green, and his feathers smoothed themselves out. Bean picked up a piece of electric chord that had been sat on the floor.

"Tie me up," Bean suggested to Bark.

"I never knew you were into that sort of thing," Bark smirked.

"Bark, you're an idiot," Bean quipped back, and the pair of them chuckled, "If I can't keep control, then having this body tied up will stop Pin from attacking again."

Bark nodded, and turned Bean around. Bean felt the chord wrap around his wrists, it chafed slightly, but he knew it had to be done. Bean then walked with Bark back to the lab, Bark still holding the emeralds.

"How do you use these things anyway?" Bark asked.

"Don't waste your time Bark," Bean commented, "only the Servers of Chaos can use them, and you aren't one of them,"

"Oh and you are I s'pose?"

"Obviously," Bean responded, "unfortunately it's the body that can use them, not the mind. which is why Pin is also able to use them. Likewise Sonic can also use them. There are several other servers, but Sonic is the prime server, and the one who is destined to fight the monster of chaos."

"So who are the others?" Bark asked. Bean didn't answer, his head began to twitch and shake. Bark recognised this, and slapped Bean in the face. Bean continued to twitch violently, before he collapsed to the floor. Bean returned inside Pins mental control room. It was laid out as it was the first time he was here. Bean continued to watch as Pin yelled angrily at Bark and tried to break free of his constraints. Bark ignored Pin at first, and marched him towards the lab. Bark held a gun dropped by one of the Egg-Robo's as an incentive to move Pin forwards.

"You'd really shoot me?" Pin asked slyly, "You want Bean dead too? Silly bear."

"Bean would want you dead," Bark said coldly, "Now shut up and march," Bark ordered jamming the gun into Pin's back. Pin didn't hesitate, but kept talking. Bark's patience ran out after Pin mocked his baldness. Muttering something about a cherry picker and a crane; Bark swung his paw and knocked Pin out.

Pin came around, to find he was tied to a chair in the lab. A blue force field was slowly enveloping him.

* * *

_Just who are the severs? Will Bean return to normal? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	41. Reversing the reversal

_The story so far: Tails has managed to destroy the mind control device. Meanwhile Bark has kept Pin busy._

* * *

Sonic was mildly impressed with Kintobor's lies. Having the same physical body as Robotnik meant the Egg-Robo's didn't need much convincing that Kintobor was in charge. One of the Egg-Robo's had questioned Kintobor's decision to not have Sonic killed on sight, but Kintobor had done an angry Robotnik so convincing even Sonic shivered upon hearing it. Five of the robot stayed to fix the NOCC, the rest left. Sonic had to fight his urge to break them as they passed him. He stayed sat in his chair; as part of Kintobor's lie, Sonic was to pretend to be trapped. Watching all these robots roam about like this annoyed Sonic. Though he hadn't recently found any robots recently that contained any animals, either feral of anthro, there was always the chance. The five Egg-Robo's doing repairs spent the best part of ten minutes reassembling the machine. Upon completion they walked out, the squadron leader giving Kintobor a salute.

"One thing before you go," Kintobor scowled, trying his best to stay in character, "I want this room to remain off limits to all Badniks." The Egg-Robo left the room, and the door shut behind it.

Sonic got up and stretched, "Man that took ages,"

"Took the heat off you though," Kintobor replied, relieved to be talking normally again.

"That was some quick thinking I'll admit dude," Sonic said, "so the machine's fixed fully now?"

"Indeed, now all we need is the fake Chaos Emeralds Bean ran off with, and Bean. I really hope Bean didn't get hold of them all, there's every chance he could've harnessed there power." Kintobor said, a worried tone in his voice.

It was at that moment that Bark burst into the lab with a tied up and unconscious Bean. Sonic made a comment on irony, and Kintobor replied stating it was coincidental. Kintobor took the fake emeralds from Bark, and began to slot them into the machine. Placing the sixth emerald in place, Kintobor re-engaged the machine. Bark and Sonic took it upon themselves to tie Bean to the chair. Nodding to Kintobor, Sonic told Kintobor he could start the machine up.

"It'll be a while before it's warmed up," Kintobor said, to be met with a pair of annoyed stares, "Well it needs to reach a certain level of pressure before it will explode. There is something else too. Last time it blew up it was due to a command entered on that terminal," Kintobor said, pointing towards a panel in the centre of the room, "Before the last explosion the command was entered on a timer. I can't remember what the time was, but there's a point in the explosion when the red button on that terminal needs pressing. Unfortunately that'll cause the bubble to expand and engulf the room,"

"Not a problem," Sonic nodded, "I remember the first time your ROCC blew up, I can outrun that no sweat."

Bark simply nodded. Turning to Kintobor Bark asked "What will happen to Bean?"

Kintobor looked back to Bark and assured him things would be fine. "Y'know it is quite a shame about Bean. He was a brilliant scientist before…" Kintobor hesitated, lowering his head, "It's my fault he became how he is. He did try to warn me,"

"Wait, Bean used to be your assistant?" Sonic said rather shocked that he never knew this.

Kintobor nodded, and explained to Sonic what exactly had happened to Bean. "It was nearly two years before you stumbled in to my lab Sonic," Kintobor said solemnly. He paused to check the read out on the machine, "still a while yet before we need to worry. Anyway, Bean was long gone before you appeared, and it was never necessary to mention him."

"What was Bean like?" Bark asked. In the last three days pretty much everything Bark had known about his best friend had been turned on its head, and naturally he wanted to know as much as he could.

"Bean was a very intelligent duck, really knew his stuff. He was the one that designed the CRPC. He was very logical, and enjoyed working. He was just as committed as I was to the project. The ROCC started to malfunction one day, and it was Bean who ran in to the blast to try and save the Chaos Emeralds. He gave his sanity for them. It's how he became how he is."

Bark nodded, "Those stupid emeralds. I swear I'll destroy them if it's the last thing I do."

"You know he thinks of you as his guardian, Bark," Kintobor said, trying to calm the polar bear down.

Sonic had wandered around the room, and had been looking out of the windows, "Does anyone know why part of this ship is on fire?" he asked.

Neither Bark nor Kintobor acknowledged Sonic's observation. Sonic continued to stare out of the window. He was wanting to get this explosion over with so he could get on with his heroic duty of finally ridding Mobius of Robotnik. Sonic just had to remove the last few traces of Robotnik from Mobius, and that included this airship. However without getting Bean's mental state back to it's mostly good form, Sonic couldn't destroy the airship. Sonic knew that Kintobor could probably revert Bean back to full normality at a later time, but for now they just needed to get the non-evil Bean back.

Kintobor returned to the dial. He looked to Sonic and Bark, "ninety six percent now. I estimate about a minute before it reaches critical," he said as the rings inside the machine span so fast they were nothing but a blur, "Sonic, when that dial reads ninety eight point four, press the red button, then run. Good luck Sonic," Kintobor said as he and Bark hurried out the room.

Sonic took it in his stride, and did a few stretches. He watched the dial, "ninety six point two, ninety six point five, ninety six point six; come on already," he said, tapping his foot impatiently, "ninety seven, ninety seven point three, this is taking forever," Sonic yawned, his finger hovering over the red button, poised to press it, "ninety seven point nine, ninety eight point two, nearly, ninety eight point four!" Sonic cheered, pressing the button. He watched the machine for a second, as small explosions enveloped it. The rings began to react much more erratically, spinning more randomly. The whole machine glowed white, as sparks shot from it. The energy force field moved forwards, and Sonic set into what he considered a gentle jog.

Bean came to as the machine enveloped his arm. He screamed in terror as his face contorted into one that was a mix of blind confusion and total pain. Sonic turned around and ran backwards, watching Bean suffer as the Chaos energy struck him. Bean's body pulsed purple, and he shrieked even louder. Sonic bolted out the door, and turned the corner, Bean's screams echoing outside. He stood next to a distressed looking Kintobor and Bark.

As the force field died back, Kintobor turned to Sonic and Bark, "That should reverse the effect of the explosion. Bean should be back as you knew him Bark."

"And that will have reversed the energy strike that hit Mobius with the first explosion?" Bark asked nervously.

Sonic's face dropped, "I didn't know the machine was hooked up to blast the whole planet."

"Neither did I…" Kintobor said worriedly.

* * *

_Will Bean be fine? Has that reversed the effects of the device on Mobius? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	42. Robots, like cats, have nine lives

_The story so far: Bark has stopped Pin's Chaos powerred destruction, and Kintobor has set off another NOCC explosion._

* * *

Knuckles wasn't exactly sure how he'd got caught, or who had caught him. What he did know was that he and Tails had been left in the same room by there captor. This was something Knuckles was glad about, as Tails managed to escape his handcuffs with skills that would leave several magicians confused. Tails undid Knuckles' handcuffs for him, and Knuckles rubbed his wrists as he asked Tails if he knew what was going on. Tails shook his head; he had about as much clue as Knuckles did. Knuckles tugged on the door of the room, surprised to find it open. Walking out of the room, Tails and Knuckles looked around for evidence of there captor. With no clue in sight, Knuckles shrugged.

"Come on, we should probably check back in with Sonic," Tails suggested. Knuckles nodded and they both looked around.

"Any idea which way that is?" Knuckles asked. Tails looked around, unsure himself. He had to admit he was lost.

"Why is there never a map when you need one?" Tails asked rhetorically, after the pair had wandered around aimlessly. Knuckles hadn't noticed, but the pair had actually managed to loop around on themselves once already, wandering around. Despite the amount of detail in this airship, navigation was impossible. Tails conceded defeat and hacked into one of the many computer terminals for a map. It took him longer than he expected, and Knuckles was relieved to spot a lone Buzzer fly overhead. It saw Knuckles, and took aim, but Knuckles had already leapt into the air. Extending his fist, Knuckles broke the Badnik, a shower of pieces falling to the floor.

There was a loud roar briefly, and Knuckles saw something shoot past the corridor at the end of the one he was stood in. He ran down to see what it was, but it was gone before he could see what it was. Knuckles dismissed it, assuming it was Sonic racing through.

Tails had successfully downloaded a map, and had a printed copy in his hand, "according to this, to get back to the lab we simply have to take a right here," he said as the pair reached a T-junction, "then go down the stairs here and it's the second door on the left."

"Well that's convenient," Knuckles grinned.

"Yeah, but according to the plans, there's a lab the same size, in the same place on seven floors of this airship. Floors two through nine inclusive all contain a laboratory. Sonic could've been in any one of those."

"He'll be on the ninth floor one," Knuckles said calmly.

"How can you be sure?"

"Cos I came in from the bottom, and went up all the floors," Knuckles retorted. Tails gave him a slight glare, before informing Knuckles that the pair would have to go back the way they came. They went back down the corridor, and walked past the computer terminal again. It was smashed to pieces, and a small part of the floor was on fire. The fire wasn't spreading, and merely singeing what was left of the computer. Knuckles asked Tails if he had destroyed the terminal. Tails shook his head.

"This is definitely where we came from," Tails said, pointing to the remains of the destroyed Buzzer.

Knuckles shrugged, "which way to the ninth floor lab then?"

"There's a lift that'll take us to the ninth floor at the other end of the corridor to the right of the one at the end of this one," Tails said. Knuckles was slightly confused by that set of directions, and simply followed Tails. Tails led them into the lift, and with a mechanic whirring, the doors closed. Tails pressed the ninth button, and Knuckles slouched against the wall, arms crossed. He whistled slightly as the lift made its ascent. Tails leafed through the airships blueprints more. The lift was slow moving, and they'd only climbed five floors, in about a minute.

"What's taking so long?" Knuckles yelled.

"Just be patient, this is the only route up unless you want to go all around the ship," Tails answered trying to keep Knuckles calm. There was a loud creaking sound, and both Knuckles and Tails tensed up. The elevator shook violently. Tails suggested the pair of them got out of the elevator, and Knuckles agreed. Climbing on the side, he punched a hole in the roof. There was a crunch, and a large chunk of the metal roof fell into the elevator box. Tails jumped out of the way, and flew out, pulling Knuckles through the hole. Knuckles looked up and saw a large red robot, a gun in place of its right hand. It had luminous green eyes, and the head looked like it had been hastily fixed onto its body. Knuckles recognised the head as that of the Metal Knuckles.

Tails leapt to the air, and spun his tails around. Knuckles leapt into the air and slammed his fists firmly into the wall of the elevator shaft. The box chord snapped, and fell to the bottom of the elevator shaft with a loud thud. The robotic double hovered above Knuckles, and began shooting at him. Tails flew towards the robot and kicked it from behind. Knuckles climbed up the wall, and jumped of slamming the robot with his body, before landing back on the wall, his spiked paws landing back on the shaft. Tails grabbed onto the elevator shaft chord for a moment, his tails needed to untwist themselves. The metal Knuckles shot at Tails, but another slam from Knuckles' body made the robot miss its target. Tails jumped clear, and began flying above again. Knuckles glided from wall to wall, the metal Knuckles following him carefully.

Tails leapt onto the head of the robot, and took a screwdriver out of its pocket. Working quickly, Tails managed to loosen the jetpack, "Slam it now," Tails yelled.

Knuckles smirked, and leapt from the wall. Slamming the robot as Tails leapt off, the jetpack was knocked off. The robot fell down the shaft, landing with a loud thud. There was a small explosion at the bottom of the shaft. The jetpack shot to the top of the shaft exploding on contact with the roof of the shaft. There was a creaking, and both Tails and Knuckles bolted out of the way as another elevator plummeted to the bottom of the shaft, burying the robot under a pile of steel. Knuckles punched a hole in one of the doorways. Both he and Tails walked through it.

"Floor eight," Knuckles said, reading the sign above the lift, "you want to go back in the shaft?"

Tails looked down the elevator shaft briefly. "I wouldn't advise it," he said. Tails jumped backwards and ducked as a large ball of fire shot fully up the shaft.

Knuckles shielded his eyes with his paw. The blast singed the walls of the corridor slightly, but save for a couple of small bits of rubble, and some embers the fire did not spread onto there corridor. Tails checked his copy of the blueprints, "there should be a stairway down the end of this corridor," he said pointing right. Tails led Knuckles towards it, the pair halted slightly as a Bomb Bot wandered towards them. It stopped and both Tails and Knuckles watched its fuse tick down. They ran back, and waited, as it exploded, a flurry of hot scrap metal flying everywhere. The explosion scorched the walls further, and blew one of the doors off its hinges. Knuckles peered in as he and Tails ran past; there was nothing of worth in the room though. Dismissing it he and Tails made there way to the stairwell.

Due to the engine space, Tails explained, the floors were quite a height apart. The pair ran up the spiralled stairwell. They turned the corner to find what looked like a badly singed metal Echidna stood at the top of the stairs. It aimed its gun arm at the pair of them, as another Bomb Bot approached the pair from behind.

* * *

_How did the Metal Knuckles survive? How will Knuckles and Tails survive this? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	43. A hero's work

_The story so far: Kintobor has set off the NOCC on Bean again. Meanwhile Tails and Knuckles have had to deal with the Metal Knuckles_

* * *

Bark wandered back into the lab, accompanied by both Sonic and Kintobor. Sonic had grabbed all the fake Chaos Emeralds, while Kintobor looked through terminal data, and Bark slowly untied Bean.

"Are you sure he'll be back to normal?" Sonic asked Kintobor.

"Did anyone get the number of the grand piano that fell on that truck," Bean said rubbing his head.

"He's fine," Bark dryly commented, "In any case, now that that is over, myself and Bean have to get going. We have places to go, and there's no need for us here now."

"So you're just going to leave then?" Sonic asked.

Kintobor answered for them, "There isn't much reason for them to stay Sonic. Bean has been turned back to normal, and according to this machine the Chaos energy blasted at Mobius' populace on both occasions was so minimal that almost no change will have occurred. Neither of them have any reason to stay here any longer Sonic, and to be honest once Tails and Knuckles return we should get out of here ourselves."

"We're grateful for all you've done for us Sonic. You saved both our lives several times in the last few days, but Kintobor's right, we need to get back. I was s'posed to check in with my boss properly two days ago. I'm sure you guys can handle anything else that comes up." Bark explained, not wanting to spend another second on the airship. Now that Bean was back to what he knew to be normal, all Bark really wanted to do was go home, and get some shut eye. He knew his boss would be mad, but Bark was too worn out. He untied Bean fully, and the duck stretched.

"He's right, we have to go Sonikku," Bean said, causing Sonic shivered at that name, "we'll send you a postcard sometime though. Hey Bark," Bean paused, waiting for Bark to reply.

"Yes Bean?" Bark replied, waiting for what he expected to be a stupid question. Bark wondered for a moment if returning Bean back to his old self was a good move.

"Can you remind me to get some cardboard for posting?" Bean asked.

"Bean, you're an idiot," Bark said. Sonic chuckled slightly, and moved to one side as the pair of them stepped out the lab. Bark had seen an escape pod on the route back, and he intended to take it to get out of the airship. Bark looked out of one of the windows; he could see that the airship was headed on a decent course. Bark breathed a sigh of relief, he was glad to be getting off the ship. He wandered along the corridors, faintly hearing the muffled sound of Sonic talking with Kintobor. Bark couldn't exactly figure out what they were saying, but he was sure it was related to Chaos energy or something similar.

Bean began to whistle to himself, before catching a glance from Bark. He stopped, and apologised. Bark laughed, "If you want to whistle go ahead, but just this once mind," he said, aware of what Bean had just been through. Bark turned the corner as a bright flash occurred, and turned round to see Bean dancing clutching a bomb. Bark yelled at Bean to stop that, and Bean threw the bomb out of an open window. It exploded a short while later, and Bark continued along towards the escape pod.

"So why are we really going?" Bean asked Bark.

"Cos I need some serious rest and we ain't the heroes here," Bark answered, "it's Sonic's job to save the world, not ours. I don't know if you remember, but three days ago we were sent out by our boss. I'm pretty sure he'll be mad when we return and now that both of us are out of danger I want out of here as soon as possible. Now come on," he said, urging Bean to walk quicker. If Bark was honest with himself he would like some credit as a hero, but he knew his boss would disapprove. Bark was loyal to his boss. He never told Bean exactly why, but Bark had good reason to be. Fortunately Bean never questioned Bark on his boss. Bean wasn't actually under the employment of Bark's boss, and Bark routinely thought how lucky Bean was for this.

There was two Egg-Robo's positioned guarding the escape pod. Near them on the wall was what Bark assumed was an alarm. The pair of robots were both armed, and neither had seen Bark or Bean. Bark stopped Bean, and told him to stay quiet. Bean nodded, something which surprised Bark, and Bark for once actually had to think what his first step would be, rather than trying to figure out how to save Bean. Bark wondered for a moment if the exposure to the NOCC would have any long term effects on Bean before he noticed a bomb rolling quietly along the floor. Bark cursed inwardly, and watched as it blew up in front of one of the robots, knocking it backwards. The second went to raise the alarm. Bark ran forwards as fast as he could to stop it. Sliding into it feet first he knocked the robot over before it could hit the button. Bark stomped on the robot with his boot, and it crackled slightly. Bark jumped clear of the robot as it rocked about. Unfortunately for Bark he'd manage to place his own paw onto the alarm. Bark swore loudly, he had had enough of his run of bad luck, and his temper had finally got the better of him. Bean cowered slightly, and Bark ordered him into the escape pod. Bean obediently followed, saying nothing and avoiding eye contact. Bark knew he'd reached critical stress levels as Bean was obviously afraid of him.

The pair of them clamoured into the pods two seats. Bark wondered for a moment why the escape pods would need two seats, before looking amongst all the levers and dials. He looked amongst them carefully, before pressing a couple of buttons. There was a clunking sound as the door closed behind them.

Bean jumped out the chair instantly, "Open the door!" he shrieked panicked.

"No, we're going, now sit down and shut up," Bark answered. He was beyond frustrated now, and was willing to break anything that got in his way.

Bean waved a bomb under Barks nose, "either you open that door, or I'll blow it open," he said threateningly.

"What's so important that you have to go outside?" Bark asked trying to remain calm.

"Just trust me, you've got to let me out and follow me," Bean answered.

Bark hesitated for a moment, before sighing. He may have been angry, but Bean was the one with the bombs. Relenting Bark opened the door. There was a squadron of Badniks waiting for him as he did. Bean rushed straight into them, attempting to blow them up. Bark sighed, if he wasn't going to get out of the airship, then he'd be using these Badniks as a form of stress relief. Bark ran into the fight, his arms ready to strike.

* * *

_Just why was it so important for Bean to leave the pod? Will the pair of them survive the fight with the Badniks? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	44. Nothings quite this chaotic

_The story so far: Tails and Knuckles have been trapped by the Metal Knuckles. Meanwhile Bark has failed to convince Bean to leave the airship._

* * *

Kintobor had taken the Grey Emerald from Sonic due to the unusual reaction it had had when exposed to the fake Chaos Emeralds. The second he felt the ground disappear from beneath his feet he realised that this might not have been the best option. Kintobor remembered how he'd brought Sonic, Knuckles, Bean, Bark, and Robotnik inside the emeralds. Kintobor braced himself, expecting the worse. What he got was what he had been used to for all the years he'd spent in the emeralds. It looked like something from a surrealists painting, only much worse. Optical illusions would move to always look _almost_ right, but never quite looking like normal. The skyline seemed to melt into the horizon blurring the colours together. For a second Kintobor swore he could see everything in four dimensions.

"Dr Ovi Kintobor," an all to familiar voice said mockingly, "welcome home."

"Dr Robotnik," Kintobor said with sarcastic courtesy.

"Come now, lets be a little more pleasant," Robotnik said calmly, "after all, you're my guest here. Do you like what I've done with the place?"

Kintobor said nothing; instead he focused all his mental capacities on trying to get out of the emeralds.

"Don't waste your time just yet," Robotnik said as the building behind him melted into a puddle that showed the buildings reflection within it, "you should know as much as anyone; that anyone summoned into the emeralds will stay there for a preset time, irrespective of who it is, or why they were summoned. Not even the Prime Server of Chaos could escape that rule."

Kintobor continued to say nothing. He didn't want to give Robotnik the benefit of seeing him annoyed. A building appeared in front of Kintobor, perfectly normal looking, but all the doors and windows were sideways. Robotnik walked out of one of the doors, and standing sideways to Kintobor he looked him in the eye smiling smugly.

"You see, you only took over my body through an exposure to a limited amount of Chaos Energy. It shouldn't be too long before that disappears, cancelling out the effects of the reverse. Now Bean serves for an interesting experiment in the effects of temporary Chaos Energy infection, and the results have been very interesting to view. I'd like to thank you for making sure Sonic held the Grey Emerald; it allowed me to see the results I wanted, despite the setback of not being in my body,"

Kintobor gritted his teeth. Despite no longer existing in any form other than one of confinement, it was obvious Robotnik still had a large degree of knowledge of what was going on. Kintobor cursed himself mentally; he should've known it was coming.

"I take it you've already figured I'm going to take my body back," Robotnik gloated.

"Not if I can help it," a voice said, as the sideways building was blown to pieces.

Robotnik got up to the sight of angry green duck, "this is for the Grand Imperial Kukku Army!" he yelled angrily, throwing several bombs at the obese man. Robotnik fell over backwards. The bombs had come as surprise.

"Always knew I could count on you Bean," Kintobor said.

"Wrong one," The duck said quietly, trying not to be heard by Robotnik, "It's Pin, but keep it quiet." Kintobor nodded, somewhat confused as to why Pin was helping him. The answer became quickly apparent as Pin barraged Robotnik with another flurry of bombs, while yelling a long list of names at him.

"You killed them all Robotnik, like none of them mattered. I served with them; they were my friends, my brethren. I may have been an adopted Kukku, but I was still a Kukku, and I will avenge them all." The duck yelled angrily, throwing an endless stream of bombs at Robotnik.

Robotnik got up calmly, flinching with each bomb thrown, "You stupid bird, you're not in control here," he said waving his hand dismissively. The bombs blew up in front of him, leaving Robotnik unharmed. Pin launched at Robotnik with a pecking attack. Robotnik swung his fist and the duck, sending him flying into a wall. Pin landed with a thud.

Kintobor tensed up as Robotnik walked towards him. Kintobor wasn't much of a fighter, even if his new body had a bit more strength and weight behind it than his old one had. Robotnik looked upon him menacingly. Kintobor put his fists up to defend himself.

"I wouldn't advise it, Ovi," Robotnik scowled, "trust me, it's best you don't." Kintobor chose not to heed this warning and swung a punch at Robotnik. Robotnik caught Kintobor's fist in his palm, "I told you you'd regret it," Robotnik said calmly.

Kintobor looked to his fist, and watched as it slowly melted into Robotnik's. The fingers of each of them fused together, and before long there arms looked like one long link between the pair of them. The pair drew closer, and there bodies liquidated into one another. The body collapsed to the floor, twitching violently. It shook, before slowly reversing the process. Pin got up to see the body start to divide in two, before he shielded his eyes from a blinding flash.

"You okay dude?" Sonic asked, worried about Kintobor's absence, "you were gone for several minutes. What happened?"

"It's nothing Sonic," the man responded slowly, balancing himself. He looked around the lab; everything was more or less as he remembered it, bar a few additional broken things. Sonic explained he'd inadvertently summoned a handful of repair bots during Kintobor's absence.

"You okay then?" Sonic asked again.

"It's nothing; the grey emerald took me inside itself, and has now warped itself away. The portals are open now, all that needs doing is going into the alternate dimension, and collecting them, so we can neutralise them once and for all. Once that's done, we can give them back to Knuckles, and we can enjoy life."

Sonic nodded hearing this "Sounds like a good plan, guess we just have to wait for Tails and Knuckles so we can follow Bean and Bark's example and leave this ship. Where are they anyway? I thought they'd be back by now. Maybe I should search for them?"

"I don't think that's wise," he said, holding onto Sonic's shoulder, "They'll be back in there own time. In fact," Kintobor paused, and reached into his tattered lab coat's pocket, "Why don't I call them back over the ships internal speakers?"

Sonic nodded, before yelping slightly. Sonic could feel Kintobor's grip on him tighten, "hey dude, what are you doing?" Sonic asked nervously, as Kintobor pressed a small button on a remote control. The floor in the room began to slide back, and Kintobor pushed Sonic through the gap. He laughed momentarily.

Sonic looked up to the doctor, "Eggman you…"

"Me what? Robotnik said laughing. He pressed a button on the remote and held it to his mouth. "I'd like it to be known to all the people on board this ship," he said, his voice being amplified across the whole ship, "that I, the great doctor Ivo Robotnik, have finally captured the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog. Anyone wishing to save him should head back to the lab immediately." Robotnik said smugly, still laughing.

* * *

_What's happened to Kintobor? Is this the end of Sonic the Hedgehog? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	45. Dealing with an old enemy

_The story so far: Bark has been pursuaded not to leave the ship. Meanwhile Kintobor has reverted back to Robotnik._

* * *

The announcement hadn't surprised Tails. He had guessed the fake chaos emeralds didn't have the kind of power to keep Kintobor as Kintobor. Right now however, being trapped between a large metallic bomb, and an obviously powerful robotic double of Knuckles was worrying him more. Knuckles of course had no problem with jumping in fists first into a fight with his robotic double. Tails ran past both the robot and the real Knuckles, before yelling at Knuckles. The Bomb Bot inched closer to Knuckles. Knuckles smirked, and picked it up. Throwing it upwards he punched it towards his double. The Bomb Bot struck the metal Knuckles, and exploded on contact with it's feet, blowing them off. Knuckles breathed a sigh of relief while Tails wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow.

"That was close," Tails smiled nervously.

"It was nothing," Knuckles said. There was a short sparking sound from the remnants of the robot. Tails looked to it, alarmed slightly as it whirred back to life. Tails looked at it as it tried to stand upright without any legs. Clearly recognising it's damage, the robot completely detached what was left of it's legs, and propped itself upright. It's main thrusters engine swivelled and fixed in place pointing down. The robot used this to hover in place, and re-aimed it's gun arm at Tails.

"Now what do we do?" Tails said, ducking just in time to avoid a blast from the gun. The robot took aim a second time, as both Knuckles and Tails ran around the corner.

Knuckles didn't answer, and instead ran straight back out to face the robot. Tails watched for a moment as Knuckles threw himself from wall to wall down the corridor. Knuckles once again slammed his fists into the head of his robotic duplicate. Clearly Knuckles was annoyed by the relentlessness of the robot. Tails watched as Knuckles landed on the robot and swung several punches at it. The robot attempted to grab hold of Knuckles. Tails saw his moment and ran back towards the robot. Tails slid underneath it and threw a screwdriver at it.

"Knuckles get off of it!" Tails yelled as he ran away from the robot. The screwdriver did exactly as Tails had guessed it would, and buckled the rotor blade of the engine. The robot fell to the floor with a thud, before rattling fiercely. Tails ducked back around the corner, with Knuckles following instantly, as the robot exploded. Tails looked back to where it was seeing a pile of rubble. "I think it's defeated now," he said, carefully checking the rubble. Knuckles nodded.

"How far to the lab then?" Knuckles asked.

"Should be the next door on the left" Tails said, as the pair turned the corner. Tails went to open the door to find it locked, "now what?"

Knuckles' answer was simple yet effective. The door buckled with one of his punches, and fell into the room with the second. Tails was shocked to discover that the floor of the lab, along with most of it's contents had disappeared. A few wires still sat around the place, and in the doorway there was a test tube, but otherwise all that was left was the Chaos Compressor. Tails looked at it. The device extended through the chasm of the room. It whirred and an egg shaped individual looked at them, wriggling his moustache.

"Tails, Knuckles, welcome," Robotnik said gleefully, "the funs just beginning."

"Eggman," Knuckles yelled angrily, throwing himself forwards. His fists connected with where Robotnik's face would have been had Robotnik not lowered himself. Tails looked at the room carefully. The entire chamber was about fifteen stories high, though Tails only counted nine exit levels. This confirmed Tails' hunch that the lab had been designed deliberately as a trap.

Around the room platforms floated ominously, some spiked, some not. Parts of the room had pipes running through it. The floor of this chamber was shrouded in smoke, but Tails was convinced that whatever it was that was down there would probably kill anyone unlucky enough to fall. The central unit housed Robotnik, and he was clearly inside, shifting the pod he was sat in up and down. Tails shrieked as a large metal door slid down from the ceiling, narrowly avoiding chopping one of his tail off.

Tails noticed Sonic on one of the lowest platforms. A pair of guns extending from the tower were aimed at him. Tails jumped down from the doorway, landing on a platform above Sonic, it wobbled slightly, and tails leapt off of it into flight. He swooped down and extended a paw to Sonic. Sonic grabbed onto it, as the guns fired, destroying the platform. Tails brought Sonic to another platform, and untwined his tails.

"Thanks li'l bro, you came just in time," Sonic said, "Knuckles is hear too then." Tails nodded, as Knuckles landed next to them.

"So how do we beat this thing," Knuckles asked.

"The best bet is to all attack it separately. Robotnik can't track us all if we split up," Tails suggested. Sonic nodded, agreeing it was the best plan. The three of them jumped as a large arm holding a hammer swung around. Knuckles landed on the wall and shot up off it almost instantly, gliding again for Robotnik. He missed but landed just bellow him. Robotnik saw this and flicked a switch, sending a large electric shock up the tower and through the column. Four panels opened up at the base of the tower, and four identical looking arms shot up, waving menacingly, Knuckles landed on one of the platforms, and one of the arms shot down atop him, trapping him in a confined cage. Knuckles went to punch free but another shock hit him as his fist hit the cage.

Sonic had taken this opportunity to jump up several of the platforms. Narrowly dodging being clubbed by the hammer, he leapt gracefully from platform to platform. He collided with one of the gun arms, the force of the spin attack severing it off, and it fell to the floor. It fired as it landed, hitting Sonic's platform from underneath, Sonic managed to narrowly grab one of the other platforms, but as he pulled himself up an electrified cage surrounded him. Sonic sat angrily, it was up to Tails now.

Tails knew this, and flew up to Sonic's cage arm. Dodging gun fire, he tried to slam into it hard enough to disconnect the arm from the tower. The hammer arm swung towards Tails and the tower, and Tails smirked slightly. He jumped quickly out of the way. The hammer stopped inches away from the cages arm joint. Robotnik laughed "You were expecting me to wreck my own creation I take it?" he asked rhetorically.

Tails landed on a platform. One of the cage arms slammed it, and Tails rolled out of the way. The force of the slam acted like a catapult, and Tails was sent flying onto one of the pipes. The hammer arm swung at the pipe, denting it badly, and Tails leapt off again into flight, dodging gunfire. He flew around for a few moments, while the remaining cage arms followed him. Tails eventually had to stop and land. The very second he did a cage arm landed atop him.

Robotnik laughed maniacally, as he looked at Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all caged in front of him. Tails tried to think. There must be some way out of this, he thought, but what?

* * *

_How will the three of them escape? Has Robotnik finally succeeded? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	46. A bad turn

_The story so far: Knuckles and Tails have defeated the Metal Knuckles, and have been caught, along with Sonic, by Robotnik._

* * *

Bean had insisted Bark had let him out of the escape pod. He didn't expect the Crabmeat shot that fired the second the door opened, but Bean had managed to dodge it in time. Bean had heard the announcement by Robotnik, and had decided that Sonic would need saving and that he was the duck to do it. Bean didn't quite understand Bark's hesitation, but once he saw Bark rip the limbs from an Egg-Robo, Bean was convinced Bark would help. Bean rolled a bomb towards a Bomb Bot, blowing it up, and the two Ball Hogs that were unfortunate to be stood close to it.

"Throw me a bomb," Bark yelled intently. Bean did just that, throwing Bark a round, black explosive. Bark took the bomb in his feet, and kicked it at a Shellcracker. The robot picked it up in its massive claw as it exploded, blowing the robot to pieces.

Bean flew into the air and dropped bombs onto the Badniks bellow him. Technosqueaks, Flashers, and Crawls all got blown to pieces. Another pair of gun wielding Egg-Robo's appeared from around the corner, quickly dispatched by an angry polar bear. He growled fiercely slamming there heads together, causing them both to fall to the floor. He picked up there guns, and tried to fire them at a green Slicer. The guns failed to fire, so Bark lobbed them at the robot. One missed, slamming the wall and misfiring at the escape pod. The door of the pod tried to seal shut, but a large pile of wrecked robots kept it open. Bean watched as the launch mechanism set into motion. There was a rumble as the pod was launched, and a roar of fire licked down the corridor. Both Bark and Bean ducked, as the fireball shot overhead.

Bark got up, and realised his hat had been incinerated by the fire. He stared angrily at the jammed open doorway, and picked up its remnants.

"You aware you're going bald?" Bean teased.

Bark lost it, "Shut it duck! Or else I'll…"

Bark was interrupted by a gnawing sensation at his ankle. Looking down he saw a pink Caterkiller biting at his foot. Yelling angry about how annoyed he was about the amount of Badniks on the airship, he swung his paws round at them. Bark took care of the Caterkiller and all the remaining Badniks in the corridor in a fit of blind rage. He stood at the end of the corridor, still fuming, and looked amongst the piles of wreckage. Bean said nothing for a moment, and just watched the polar bear. Bark closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He then stood there doing nothing for what several seconds before turning back to Bean. Bean looked to Bark, and recognised that returned sense of calmness, confirmed by Bark asking Bean if he'd like to go to the lab now. Bean nodded hesitantly, and Bark walked back to the lab.

"Why are you so keen on going back now?" Bean asked, his curiosity having got the better of him.

"Well the escape pod took off without us, and I don't know where there are any other are. Plus it's also likely that Sonic would be able to find us another escape route; so I dunno, you do the math." Bark said.

"So the answer's thirty seven," Bean said, confidently. He was unaware that he'd actually solved one of the quadratic equations that he'd seen sat in the lab.

"Bean, you're an idiot," Bark said, regretting his choice of phrasing. Undeterred Bean continued walking towards the lab, before growing bored of walking and deciding flying down the corridors was the better option. Bark sighed, slightly annoyed by Beans showing off.

The pair reached the door of the lab to be greeted by a large metal shutter. Bark tried to pry it open, giving up after one attempt. Bean nodded and asked Bark to step back, which he did. Bean looked at the door, and then stroked his beak for a moment. Nodding to himself, Bean pulled a tub full of a pulpy mush, not too dissimilar to porridge, and lined it along the edges of the door. Whistling as he did, Bean walked back slightly. He rolled over a tiny bomb, and it blew up, igniting the porridge like substance that now surrounded the door. In a chain reaction, that too exploded and fell into the lab, landing with a faint clunk.

Bean looked into the lab, along with Bark; the pair of them saw the long narrow tower, and the arms flailing about from it. Bean noticed Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all trapped inside there cages, "I said they'd need us," Bean said, nudging Bark. Bark sighed, and admitted he was wrong.

A giant hammer swung at the doorway and Bean leapt to the left, extending into flight. Bark jumped to the right, landing on one of the many floating platforms in the room. Bark was stuck for a moment; he didn't have much option but to ride the platform. Bean on the other hand noticed a familiar moustached man sat inside the tower, and started hurtling explosives at him, to little effect.

"Care to pick me up Bean," Bark yelled. Bean swooped down, and in a fluid motion Bark was hanging from Bean's feet.

"Try and knock the cage's arm off," Sonic yelled from his cage, "get those off and we can take care of him,"

"Ha, you meddlesome fools have interfered with my plans for the last time," Robotnik laughed. He pressed a button on his control panel, and a shot fired at the pair. Bark let go of Bean, the sudden change in weight causing Bean to rise a good six feet. Bark fell and grabbed hold of one of the pipes in the room. Carefully he pulled himself up.

"The wires Bark," Tails yelled, "Pull them out. If I'm right it'll cause a short," Tails said, instructing Bark on what to do. Bark thought about it for a moment, before deciding to try it. He pulled at the wire. The pipe creaked, and the wire sparked. There was a small crackling sound, and then the pipe collapsed. Bark landed with a thud several feet bellow on a platform. He got up in time to find the last of the cage arms trap him. Bark sighed, and sat down on the platform. All he could do now was hope Bean came through and freed them.

Bean hadn't noticed Bark getting caged, and instead had tried to bomb the arms. Through some minor dumb luck he's managed to sever the other gun arm. It fell off the tower, and collided with another one of the pipes that connected the tower to the room. The pipe leaked a purple liquid to the floor bellow. As the platforms spun round, Sonic noticed the substance, and yelled out to Bean about Mega Mack. The hammer arm swung round while Bean was distracted, and he was knocked flying into the wall of the room. He slid down it, and landed on one of the platforms. He got up, clutching his sore head.

Bean twitched violently. He shook as he stood before slumping to his knees. He began to jibber incessantly "Oh no. Not here, not now. Please, anything but the voices," he said petrified. Bean began to sing loudly, trying to drown out the voices in his mind, "the muscle is Vector, the karma collector, and he's going to fight for you."

"Team Chaotix?" Knuckles quietly asked Bark.

Bark simply shrugged, "He has to snap out of it though; otherwise we're all sunk. As much as it sucks, Bean's currently our only hope."

* * *

_Can Bean ignore the voices? Will Sonic, Tails, Bark, and Knuckles escape? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	47. Breakout

_The story so far: Robotnik has caught Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Bark, in electrified cages. Meanwhile Bean is having another attack of voices._

* * *

Robotnik couldn't stop laughing. After all these years he'd finally cracked the perfect plan, and here he was with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all in cages. He also had a polar bear caught, and there only hope for survival laid with a schizophrenic duck who was currently in the middle of a delusion. Of course Robotnik knew he couldn't rest yet. He positioned the hammer carefully above Bean, and waited. Pressing a button on the control panel he drew the four platforms around Bean. Robotnik wanted to see everyone's face as the hammer fell on the duck, and removed there last chance of hope.

"So much for that rescue attempt," Robotnik gloated triumphantly. The hammer swung lower, and with a thud collided with the platform. Robotnik cursed loudly as he watched the duck roll out of the way at the last second. The hammer flipped the platform over completely, and Robotnik watched the duck fly about. Setting the four platforms with the cages back into motion, Robotnik pressed another button on the console. Two large claws extended from the tower, and tried to swipe at Bean. The first missed, but the second caught him. Robotnik pulled the duck closer to the tower. Bean wriggled one of his arms free, and managed to pull himself out of the arm before rolling a bomb along it. It blew up at the joint, and the arm creaked into motionlessness. Bean pulled himself out.

The other arm shot for Bean, but Bean saw this one coming and flew out of the way. It collided with the tower itself, shaking it loose. Knuckles saw an opening as his cage came loose, and with a punch to the top of the cage he was free. Knuckles shook the worse of the electric shock he'd got off and jumped for the room's outer wall. Climbing down it he leapt off, and glided towards the tower, landing at the connection of another one of the arms. With several punches, the arm disconnected. There was a loud creaking sound, and the arm tipped over, freeing Tails. The hammer swung for Knuckles, and he leapt off in time for the hammer to strike where the arm once was. A few sparks shot out of the newly formed dent.

Robotnik screamed angrily and increased the voltage to the other two cages. He had no intention of letting anyone else escape. Pressing another button several layers of the room were surrounded by spinning buzz saws. Robotnik laughed as he managed to successfully grab Knuckles. Robotnik squeezed him tightly. There was a small explosion as Bean threw several bombs at the arm. It shook, but held in place. Tails came to the arm and disconnected several of the exposed wires. The arm released Knuckles, and became inactive. Knuckles punched the arm forcefully, and it fell to the ground. On the way down it connected with a pair of pipes, and severed them both. A thick black liquid poured out of them.

Undeterred Robotnik spun the remaining to cages quicker. They swung around, acting as both traps and a pair of large maces. Feeling very motion sick, Bark sat down and closed his eyes. Tails darted out of one of way of one of the platforms and landed next to Sonic to unwind his Tails.

"I've got a plan," Sonic whispered to Tails, "but you'll all have to get out of here. Free Bark first, then myself li'l bro."

Tails nodded, understanding why Sonic wouldn't say anything, and began to fly towards Bark's cages arm joint. He leapt onto the tower. Robotnik lowered himself and glared at Tails. Tails froze momentarily looking at Robotnik, before pulling a funny face at him, and began to hack at the joints on the arm. Robotnik glared at Tails, before he quietly lowered the glass window in front of him, and reached his hand out.

"Tails watch out!" Sonic yelled, as Robotnik grabbed his leg. Robotnik forced Tails away from the arm, and threw him with some considerable force against towards one of the rooms buzz saws.

"Gotcha," Bean said, as he caught Tails. Tails breathed a sigh of relief, and watched as Knuckles struck the arm Tails had been trying to sever. The hammer swung for Bean, and Tails jumped to avoid it. Bean jumped onto the hammer, before leaping off of it onto another platform. Barks arm was severed, and Bark threw the cage off of himself. Tails lowered himself down to Bark, and picked him up off the platform. Bark leapt free of Tails a moment after, landing on another pipe. He punched it a few times, and it snapped in two, more Mega Mack leaking out of it.

Sonic's platform began to spin rapidly. Bark leapt off the pipe, grabbed onto a wire, and used that to swing up onto the remaining cage arm. There was a loud whirring as another compartment opened up, with another hammer arm inside. Bean smirked, and darted quickly inside the compartment. The hammer arm came out, and the door slammed shut. The pair of hammers swung at Tails and Knuckles. Tails darted out of the way, but Knuckles wasn't so lucky, and collided with the wall with a thud. He slid down it, and dug his claws in deeply, narrowly avoiding landing on one of the buzz saws.

Bark had managed to tear off some of the chunks of metal on the cage arm. Yanking at some of the wires, he looked to Sonic. Sonic touched his cage, and smiled to Bark as he wasn't electrocuted. Robotnik screamed loudly, and slammed his control panel. The last cage arm flipped upright, and Bark was shot upwards. Grabbing a narrow pipe, he swung on it, and jumped free, pulling the pipe with it. More oil spilled out.

There was an explosion in the middle of the tower, and Bean crawled out of the hole. Sonic leapt down some of the platforms and met him there, Sonic yelled to Tails to take out the hammer arms, and both he and Knuckles made a move for them. Bark made a jump for the tower, and clung on to where Robotnik was. With a punch he shattered the glass of Robotnik's screen, before kicking off the tower and landing on the platform. Bean carried Sonic up to Robotnik's level.

"So much for this doomsday weapon, eh Eggman?" Sonic gloated, as he leapt into a spin attack and shot through a small hole in the tower, making it larger. He landed above Robotnik's capsule, and bounced off it a couple of times, snapping the chain that allowed Robotnik to move up and down, "Come and get me now Robuttnik."

Robotnik growled loudly as he tried to lower his capsule. The machine didn't respond. Frustrated Robotnik pressed every button on his terminal. Two more hammers, two more grabbing claws, and another two guns shot out to join the two hammers that were already orbiting the machine. Sonic gulped loudly, as the one of the guns shot the platform he was on. Landing on another platform, Robotnik decided he'd had enough toying around and would simply use all his remaining weaponry to destroy Sonic.

* * *

_Just what is Sonic's plan? Will Robotnik crush Sonic once and for all? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	48. Something to do

_The story so far: Bean has managed to get everyone out of the cages. Meanwhile Robotnik has unleashed every weapon the tower has._

* * *

"Sonic will do the rest," Knuckles said, as he climbed out of the same doorway Bean and Bark had entered the lab through. Through all Robotnik's rage at Sonic, he'd failed to notice Knuckles climb out the lab, nor Bean carrying Bark out, or even Tails fly out.

"Lets hope his plan works," Bark said, unsure what exactly to expect.

"It will," Tails smiled, "all we have to do is wait for him.

"Or we could smash all these robots maybe," Bean said excitedly, as a swarm of Badniks edged towards the four of them. Knuckles was the first to react, smashing his fists through an unlit Flasher.

The four of them all dodged forwards as an Asteron moved towards them, before blowing up, sending large chunks of shrapnel all down the corridor. Bean took to the air, and dived down on a Crawl. It ducked under its shield, and Bean bounced off. He rolled a bomb at it, flipping it over. It landed atop a Blastoid, and both were soon hit by a spin attack from a twin tailed fox cub.

Bark had taken it upon himself to grab hold of one the Technosqueaks that roamed about the place. Technosqueaks only method of attack was to electrocute anything in range, and Bark's gloves protected him from the robots attempts to harm him. Using the robot as a makeshift tazer, Bark charged at a Shellcracker. As he'd guessed, the robot grabbed hold of the small blue Technosqueak in its larger red claw, and shorted out from the voltage. Bark punched the pair of robots, and they began to spark. He covered his face with his paw as the two robots exploded, taken out a chainspiker with it.

Tails jumped onto another crabmeat, breaking it on impact. Bouncing off the robot, he collided with a Buzz Bomber, and landed spinning through a third. He landed on the floor.

"Eight hundred points," Bean said, as he picked up a Bomb Bot. A smile crept across Bean's face, and he hurled it against one of the walls. It bounced off, and exploded in the middle of two Coconuts, a Neutron, and an Orbinaut, blowing them to smithereens. Another Coconuts rained down explosives at the four of them, until Bark took out with a well placed punch on the head.

"This way," an electronic voice ordered. Four Egg-Robos turned the corner to face the four anthros. The fired a barrage of lasers at the four of them, and Tails, Knuckles, Bean, and Bark all retreated back towards the lab. Two of them followed in pursuit, only to be met by the fists of both Knuckles and Bark. The polar bear gave the echidna a high five as Tails took one of Beans bombs. He took out his screwdriver.

"What're you doing to it?" Bean asked, tilting his head to see exactly what the young fox was doing.

"I'm gonna make it into a small electromagnetic explosive. It should knock out the robots easier," Tails smiled.

"You wanna attach the green wire to the blue one, not the red one then," The duck said.

Tails blinked for a moment, "hey you're right," he said before he re-adjusted his device.

"Anytime," the duck quacked, before hopping on one leg.

"You two would do well as freedom fighters y'know," Tails said, as the duck switched legs.

"You'd have to ask our boss,"

"Who's that?" Tails asked curiously.

"I dunno, I never met him, you'd have to ask Bark," Bean answered, "Hey Bark," he said waiting for a reply.

"I've got my hands full now Bean," Bark said, as he yanked the head off of another Egg-Robo, "Now do you want to sit here flapping your beak, or do you want to help us get rid of these robots?"

"I'll flap my beak thanks," Bean said. He then proceeded to shake his head up and down very quickly; his beak hanging loose as he did. Bark took one look at Bean, and called him an idiot in his usual monotone voice. Beans response was to blow up the robot Bark was having trouble with.

Knuckles took the last of the Egg-Robo's out by punching through both sides of its metallic head with his spiked fists. The robot fell to the floor crumbled in a heap, joining the rest of the rubble. Knuckles kicked some of aside, still itching for a few more robots to fight. "Come on, anymore," he said impatiently.

"I think that's it Knuckles," Bark said calmly. A second squadron of eight Egg-Robos, accompanied by another eight random Badniks, turned the corner and marched towards them. "Maybe not," the polar bear said, mentally cursing whoever it was that liked to prove him wrong.

Tails clicked the lid back on the bomb, and handed it to Bean, "Would you do the honours?" he said, not wanting to do it himself. Tails wasn't a fan of handheld explosives, and it was nervousness with them that had caused him to make the mistake Bean had noticed.

Bean nodded taking the bomb. Knuckles and Bark ran behind Bean. Bean activated the bombs automated fuse, and hurled it at the robots. One of the Ball Hogs caught the device. It exploded in the robots mechanical hands, blowing it to pieces. The rest of the robots fell to the floor, lifeless.

Both Bean and Barks wrist communicators began beeping. Bark looked at his. All the dials flashed zero, before the display went dead. Tails smiled nervously, "side effect of the electromagnetic pulse Bean just said off." Bark sighed; at least he wouldn't have to worry about being yelled at for poor performance just yet.

The four of them looked to each other for a moment. Bark sat down, taking a moment to catch his breath. Tails paced about nervously, and Knuckles punched at the air impatiently. Bean looked to them puzzled. "Shouldn't we be doing something?" he asked, confused.

"We are doing something," Tails said, shuffling, "We're waiting for Sonic."

"But isn't there more we can do?" Bean said, growing impatient of waiting.

"He's right y'know," Knuckles said.

"That makes a change, Bark said sarcastically, still content to take a break from all the fighting and action of the last few days, "how are we gonna get out of here anyway?" He asked, as he remembered the ship was sinking. Tails got out the blueprints he'd been clutching, skimming through them he told the rest of them that there was a couple of escape pods down not too far. Bark took the blue prints from the fox, and skimmed through them.

There was a loud bang, as the lights flickered. The whole ship rocked, and a ball of fire shot towards the four of them.

* * *

_How will everyone escape? Is Sonic alright? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	49. Climbing the tower

_The story so far: Robotnik has unleashed all the remaining weaponry on the tower. Meanwhile Bean, Bark, Tails and Knuckles have fought of a large squadron of Robotnik's badniks._

* * *

Two of the hammers slammed the platform just after Sonic leapt off. He spun as leapt, and landed with a roll on one of the buckled pipes. Sonic rolled along it, and jumped off, grabbing hold of one of the gun arms. It swung up, and Sonic was thrown into the air. He landed atop one of the grabbing arms. Running along it, he curled into a spin attack and shot through it. It creaked, and fell as he stood on it. Sonic smirked, as he saw Robotnik punch the console as he drifted down it. Another hammer swung for the arm, and Sonic jumped atop this. The severed grabbing arm collided with one of the buzz saws, and it jammed it still.

Robotnik began to fire the two gun arms sporadically. He'd decided the only way to kill the hedgehog was to let everything attack as a last ditch attempt. Robotnik could see on his dashboard that he didn't have long until the ship would crash. He also knew that Sonic and his friends had managed to undo his NOCC's effect. However Robotnik had an escape planned, and if he could keep Sonic long enough, Sonic would die in the explosion. The fact that Tails, Knuckles, Bean and Bark had all left didn't matter anymore. All Robotnik cared about now was revenge against Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic leapt over another of the hammers blow. Landing on the other claw arm, he ducked under a gun shot, and leapt for another platform lower down. He jumped off that as the clawed arm grabbed for it. That collided with the platform crushing the platform as the claw shut closed. Sonic leapt onto one of the buzz saws, and leapt off, with a spin attack. He bounced onto one of the hammer arms, severing it off. It fell to the base of the tower, splashing the oily pink liquid at the bottom. The level was slowly rising, and the second floor lab entrance was already under the liquid.

Sonic jumped down to another platform, and rode it for a while, dodging one some of the gun shots. Coming within range of one of the guns he leapt into a spin attack and severed it from the tower. It collided with a pipe, teetering slightly, before falling. Sonic landed on the pipe, and jumped on the platform that had passed underneath it. Landing with a quiet thud, he looked to the floor bellow. The heat of the engines at the base of the room had begun to boil the liquid at the bottom. Sonic smirked slightly, now was his chance. Another hammer struck the platform, and Sonic leapt atop it. Sonic spin dashed along the arm, stopping as another hammer swung at it. Sonic dodge the hammer and the arm he was on fell to the liquid.

"It's over Eggman, you're finished," Sonic smirked.

"I don't think so hedgehog," the doctor said, raising one of the hammers.

Sonic saw his chance, and leapt at the last possible second. Sonic landed on the hammer, "oh yes you are," he said confidently. With a click, he activated the bomb Bean had handed him a few moments ago. Sonic smirked as he saw Robotnik realise what was about to happen. Sonic leapt into the air, landing on a passing platform, and dropped the bomb. It exploded igniting the Mega Mack and oil mix. The explosion rocked the entire ship, and the tower swung slightly. Sparks shot as wires were severed with the explosion.

Sonic leapt onto one of the platforms, and leapt for one of the severed electrical wires. Using the momentum of his jump, he leapt into the air, and hit another platform rolling. The flames shot upwards, and Sonic had to leap onto one of the buzz saws. Running around the room, he leapt for another platform, and swung onto another pipe. Using this to get airborne, Sonic leapt and spun through another hammer arm. He landed on a platform, and quickly jumped for another as the one remaining claw shot through it. Sonic leapt onto one of the gun joints, and waited for a hammer to smash through it. Leaping onto the hammer, Sonic used this as a springboard. He leapt to the top of the tower, and kicked off it, to shoot through the one exit on the ninth floor of the lab. Rolling as he landed, he shot through a pile of ruined robots, and ducked as a fireball shot over head.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted.

"No time li'l buddy, we've all got to get out of here now. Where's the nearest exit?" Sonic asked.

"Follow me," Tails said confidently, with Knuckles in hot pursuit.

Sonic looked to Bean and Bark, "You two might wanna take my hand, we're gonna need to go really fast now," Bark nodded and immediately took Sonic's hand, unsure how capable he was to keep up, even with Sonic doing most of the work. Bean also took Sonic's hand, and decided to fly rather than try running. Bark tried to run, but quickly found it was better to constantly jump while holding onto Sonic, to keep pace. Bark was not a fast runner, and despite the fact that all five of them reached the escape pod in less than thirty seconds, Bark collapsed onto the floor, panting heavily.

"Tails; get us out of here now!" Sonic commanded.

"Roger that hedgehog," Tails said, as Knuckles blinked, still confused as to who Roger was. Flicking the ignition switches, the pod rumbled into life. Bean, in his excitement, rolled a bomb out the door. Bean saw it collide with an Egg-Robo as the door shut, and heard it explode. The escape pod launched out of the ship with considerable speed, and Sonic and Knuckles looked out of the window.

"That was close," sighed Knuckles, as the airships decent sped up. The entire ship was now ablaze.

"We stopped his plans though," Tails said, "you're a hero yet again Sonic."

"Yeah, and you two are Sonic's heroes," Bean added, referring to Tails and Knuckles, "and me and Bark are Sonic's heroes' hero's."

"Bean," Bark panted, in the most monotone way anyone out of breath can, "you're an idiot."

Sonic didn't say anything. He watched the airship carefully. Every time Sonic had beat Robotnik, Robotnik would always escape. This time Sonic was determined to catch Robotnik. He watched carefully for another escape pod. Sure enough, Sonic saw another escape pod launch from the roof of the ship, followed by another. At least two dozen more pods fired from the ship, all heading in different directions. Sonic slammed his fist against the wall, and cursed Robotnik.

"He got away again," Sonic said angrily, "even if we went and followed every last one of those pods, he'd be long gone. He always does this," Sonic looked out the window, as even more escape pods launched, "I'll get you next time Robotnik," he said quietly, as the airship plunged into the water. Sonic watched as the airship hit the ocean. The whole thing landed with a splash, as the nose of the ship tilted upwards, before the airship took on water and suck bellow. Sonic watched carefully, as even while underwater the thing shot out the last of its escape pods.

"Next time, Robotnik, next time."

* * *

_Will Sonic catch Robotnik?_ _What will Robotnik do now? There's only one way to find out, keep reading._


	50. Back to the island

_The story so far: After a big fight with lots of badniks; Robotniks tower has been destroyed, and his airship has sunk into the ocean._

* * *

"Are you sure this will work?" an unsure Knuckles asked.

"Positive," Tails answered, "by my estimate, there should be enough energy in these emeralds to at least move the Floating Island far enough away from South Island."

Sonic ran back into the control room of the Floating Island. The escape pod they had used to leave the airship had landed in the Star Light Zone, at Bark's insistence. After a brief farewell, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles returned to the Floating Island, after an idea to use the fake Chaos Emeralds to lift the island off its present location, and at the very least, move it into an empty spot in the sea. Sonic had positioned the fake emeralds around the Master Emerald, and had just returned to the control room to watch them fly the island. Tails flicked several gears into motion, and instructed Knuckles to pull several levers. Knuckles shifted them with a grunt.

The island slowly floated upwards wobbling slightly as it did. A few chunks of dirt fell to the ground, and a couple of the parts of the Green Hill Zone were pulled off with the islands accent. With another creaking the island slowly inched forwards.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Sonic asked, arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I don't think that's wise Sonic," Tails said, "the energies limited, and I don't think it'll go much further than a few hundred miles before we have to descend due to a lack of power."

"I thought this would keep the island sky bound, "Knuckles observed wrongly.

"Afraid not Knuckles," Tails mumbled sheepishly, "the Floating Island will have to come down in the ocean until the original emeralds are returned. Knuckles glared at Tails, convinced the fox was wrong.

After a short flight, the Island began to dip gently in the ocean. Tails had taken his time with the landing. Sonic meanwhile had grown bored and had drifted off underneath a near by palm tree. The impact of the island with the water however woke him up. Sonic looked around to see the clear blue skies, a lone flickey flew overhead.

"It's done Sonic, we've landed the Floating Island about two hundred and fifty miles south-east of south island," Tails said.

"And now it's over," Knuckles added, "I'm going to ask you to leave the Floating Island now."

"What?" Sonic asked, surprised by the decision.

"You heard," Knuckles answered, "I'm glad the Islands safer and all, but this is _my_ island, and you'll have to leave."

"But we don't have a way off," Tails pointed out.

Knuckles relented slightly, seeing Tails' point. He thought for a moment to himself; he knew the emeralds weren't on the island, and that Sonic had no interest in the Master Emerald. Knuckles hesitated slightly, "alright, I'll let you build a raft to get off of here," he said, considering that a compromise. Tails was going to complain, until Sonic pointed out that they had no other choice if they wanted to go home.

The two of them began to assemble the raft, soon joined by Knuckles. Tails managed to snag a few parts of scrap metal and quickly assembled a crude motor for the raft to speed travelling. Sonic and Knuckles got to work on assembling the raft. As it neared completion Tails added the motor on, positioning a piece of scrap metal on the front for balance.

"You might as well keep the fake emeralds," Sonic said, as the raft was put into position.

"What am I supposed to do with them?" Knuckles asked, "They're out of power."

"I know," Sonic answered, "but some other thief might make his, or her, way here, and won't know that," Sonic grinned.

Knuckles didn't comment, and watched as the pair of them got on the raft, Tails by the motor, Sonic stood somewhat in the middle, looking slightly worried by the large expanse of water in front of them. Pulling on the rip chord, the motor stuttered into life, and with a slight push from Knuckles, the raft took to the water and sailed away.

"We'll see you next time you lose the emeralds," Sonic mocked. Knuckles clenched his teeth and waved his fist as the blue hedgehog, and the twin tailed fox slipped over the horizon.

Knuckles stood for a moment watching the sea bob up and down in waves. He looked to the horizon, and watched the sun begin to set. It was then his stomach grumbled loudly and he remembered he hadn't eaten for quite a while. Climbing up a tree, Knuckles took a handful of berries. They tasted bitter, and Knuckles knew from experience it was unwise to eat them. He searched the newly formed beach, but other than those bitter berries there was no food to be had. Knuckles slowly worked his way back to the emerald chamber; he knew there'd be some edible food there.

Knuckles returned to the familiar site of the chamber. He wandered around and pulled a few pieces of fruit off of the bushes. He looked to the glow of the Master Emerald, and then again at the six gems sat around it. They didn't glow, and to him they were worthless. He looked carefully over them, and picked one up with his paw. It was lighter than a Chaos Emerald, and felt smoother in his paw. Knuckles placed it back, his feet crunching a remnant of the fake emerald he smashed earlier.

There was a rumble, and more of the rocks from the cave Bark had emerged from fell. Knuckles looked to them for a moment, before turning back to his emeralds. Climbing atop the Master Emerald, Knuckles laid down. There was another rumble and from the dust the figure walked out ominously.

"Knuckles the Echidna," the voice said coldly.

"You!" Knuckles said angrily, leaping off the Master Emerald. He tensed up slightly, as the figure walked forwards stiffly. As the dust settled, Knuckles looked upon the all too familiar face of his robotic double.

"My master wishes to talk with you," the robot said calmly, taking Knuckles' angrily yell as confirmation to who the robot thought Knuckles was.

"I ain't gonna talk to Robotnik about anything," Knuckles spat, "after what I just went through the last few days, I don't want to meet with him at all, unless it's to put my fist into his face."

The robot whirred slightly, as it looked over the angry echidna. "Robotnik is not my master," it said calmly, as Knuckles lowered his guard.

* * *

_Who is the robots master? Just what does he want with Knuckles? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	51. Performance appraisal

_The story so far: Robotnik's airship has been sunk, and Knuckles has used the fake emeralds to move the Floating Island._

* * *

"You mean to tell me that you managed to spend three days trekking across half the planet, blowing up _my_ biplane, landed in the scrap brain zone, got kidnapped by a lifeless robot, then escorted an echidna to an airship in an aeroplane owned by one Sonic the Hedgehog, to an airship owned by Robotnik, before being stranded on it as it made a collision coarse with the already ablaze Westside Island, having been miraculously teleported to another airship where you found your partner tied up in an insane experiment by Robotnik, which caused him to turn into his evil version of himself, and then saved the day along with Sonic, and only just got back now?"

Bark nodded, as his boss repeated a paraphrased story of the one Bark had just told him. Bark had left Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in the Star Light Zone, a highly urbanised area of South Island. Bark and Bean had wandered through the city, towards Bark's bosses' office, to tell his boss directly why they'd taken so long.

"Are you mad sir?" Bark asked, his feet shuffling slightly.

"I find that story hard to swallow. Are you bluffing to me? I can tell a liar when I see one." His boss commented. Bark felt uneasy as his eyes met with his bosses. He looked to the floor hastily.

"Answer me!" His boss yelled, slamming his fist on the desk.

"No sir. The only evidence I have though is this shard of a fake chaos emerald I got from the Floating Island, and uhh," Bark paused, searching frantically, "this set of blue prints to Robotnik's second airship."

Bark let go of the papers as his boss grabbed them hastily. Bark watched his boss skim through them, nodding and murmuring slightly as he read through these documents with approval.

"It's not what I was after when I sent you out, and you certainly took longer getting a result than I would've liked, but you've managed to find something much better than what I sent you out for."

Bark breathed a sigh of relief hearing this. For one this would mean he'd get paid for his work, "you're welcome sir." Bark said, glad to be off the hook for his expense account.

"Tell me one thing though. If what you're saying is true, then that duck you work with is one of the seven. You say he has a split personality, is it possible to control this?" Bark's boss smirked, learning back in his chair.

"You leave Bean out of this!" Bark yelled angrily, "He has no reason to be involved with this."

"Pity," came the reply, "if I could harness his ability as a server, then I would be able to do great things. Might've even shortened the terms of your agreement."

"I don't care if I have to be involved with you for the rest of my life. Bean doesn't need to be involved with your kind, and I'm not going to allow it." Bark said angrily.

"Then we have nothing left to discuss. Payment will be made to your account in the usual way. Now get out of my sight until I have another job for you Bark. For now you're free, but never forget you have an allegiance to us."

Bark walked out of the office angry. His anger quickly turned to amusement as he looked to Bean. To keep him busy while he talked to his boss, Bark had given Bean a finger trap, a piece of stretchy fabric that held fingers tighter the more they pulled apart from one another. Bark had no idea how Bean had managed it, but not only was Bean's left index finger stuck in the trap, but so was his right foot, and his beak. Bark watched Bean roll about on the floor for several seconds before he pushed Bean together, freeing him of the trap.

"We done here?" Bean asked eagerly.

"Yes Bean, we're done. We can finally go home," Bark answered, relieved to be able to get some rest.

"So what'd he say?"

"Nothing important," Bark lied, "just the usual stuff." Bark had no intention of telling Bean anything which had been discussed with his boss. Bark wandered out the building. He checked with his new wrist communicator that his boss had handed him, it still needed the time setting, but according to it they were three blocks away from there home. Bark walked slowly, wanting to walk faster, but his legs disagreeing with him. Bark's boss had taken the escape pod, intending to put it to his own use. Bark didn't ask what that was, he didn't care. Bark just did what he was told, and never asked an unnecessary question.

"Do you think we could get something to eat? I'm starving." Bean asked, clutching his stomach slightly.

Bark's stomach grumbled in agreement, "What do you fancy?"

"Well, we just saved the day, so we should have something that suit's a hero. I say we have Chilli Dogs, on account of Sonic eating them, and being a hero like us." Bean reasoned.

Bark was too tired to question how Bean knew that Sonic ate Chilli Dog's, and just walked into the nearest fast food outlet. Sitting down at one of the tables the pair ordered six Chilli Dogs. Bark was sure the pair of them could eat more than that, but that was all he could afford with the change in his pocket.

Bean tore off half a Chilli Dog eagerly. Lacking teeth he had to tear his food into small pieces, and gulp it down whole. Bark on the other hand took a large bite of his first Chilli Dog. He gulped it down hungrily, before clutching his throat and slamming the table fiercely. Barks face slowly turned clue as he choked. Bean grabbed Bark from behind and tightly wrapped his arms arm Bark. Squeezing firmly, the duck managed to make the polar bear shoot out a large piece of poorly chewed food.

"Thanks Bean," Bark said after gasping for air.

"Think nothing of it," the duck answered, "I was merely performing CPR."

The polar bear glared at the duck briefly, "Bean, you're an idiot," Bark said, before adding, "but I wouldn't have you any other way."

* * *

_Just what is Bark's boss upto? What does he want with Bean? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	52. Going home

_The story so far: Knuckles has moved the Floating Island. Meanwhile Bark's boss has shown interest in Bean's abilities._

* * *

Sonic and Tails drifted in the ocean. They were somewhat annoyed by Knuckles' approach to getting them to leave, but had realised it was the only way to get back to the mainland. The sea was calm, and the pair had headed back for the Green Hill Zone.

"Sonic," Tails said worriedly, "Do you think everyone will be mad at us?"

"Huh?" Sonic said confused. He had been enjoying a relaxing raft ride over calm waters, as best as he could.

"Well we may have beat Robotnik, and broken his mind control over Mobius, not to mention undid his Chaos Compressors global blast, but at the same time the Floating Island crushed half the Green Hill Zone, and we can't forget about all the people who must've died when Westside Island was destroyed." Tail said; his eyes to the sea bellow.

Sonic knelt down next to the fox, "Listen, these things happen. It is a tragedy, and there's no guarantee that there won't be other tragedies in this stupid fight, but we can't let Eggman win. If he wins everyone loses. You understand that li'l bro?"

"I think so," Tails mumbled.

The rest of the trip was quiet. Tails had nothing to say, and Sonic was too busy thinking about everything Kintobor had told him in the past three days. In particular Sonic couldn't get over the fact that Robotnik was one of the Servers of Chaos, and that Kintobor would stay as Robotnik, the longer Robotnik was exposed to Chaos Energy. Sonic didn't quite understand why he was the Prime Server, or why Knuckles wasn't one of the servers when Bean was, but he dismissed that, trying to perform a mental check of everyone he'd seen harness Chaos Energy.

The Green Hill Zone came in to view. To Tails' surprise it wasn't as badly damaged as he'd thought. Tails could see that much of it had been crushed, but for the most part the populated areas of the zone had been missed. As the pair dismounted from the raft, they were greeted to a heroes welcome by the populace. A small rabbit informed the pair that miraculously nobody had been heart.

Tails smiled slightly hearing that news. He was relieved to find hope in himself again. Sonic smiled to him as the Anthro's of the Green Hill Zone cheered in his and Tails' honour. Sonic's ego got the better of him as he told the audience the story of how he'd saved the day, and due to Bark's insistence to not be mentioned as involved, the story Sonic told was very different to the one that had actually happened, and as Tails noted, contained numerous plot holes so unanswerable, it'd leave many people wondering the logic behind what had happened. Tails put this mostly down to Sonic not understanding what exactly Robotnik had done, and partially down to Sonic's ego.

* * *

It was dark when the pair of them eventually made there way back to the lab. Tails sighed as he saw the wreckage. "Looks like I'll have to repair the place before I can work on a new plane Sonic," he said quietly.

"Don't worry about it now Tails," Sonic said, resting under a tree. I dunno about you but after that feast we just had I need some shut eye. We'll deal with everything else tomorrow."

"Everything else?" Tails questioned, "What else needs doing?"

"Well, firstly," Sonic answered slowly, trying to think himself, "we must get to those Chaos Emeralds before Robotnik. If they can extend his existence, then we'd better keep them away from him." Sonic shuddered. He didn't even want to think what might happen if Robotnik managed to tap into the power of the Chaos Emeralds.

"What else?" Tails asked.

"Well I dunno about you," Sonic said, "But I intend to check out many of those escape pods, see if we can find Robotnik. I also want to check those continental bridges. The one from Westside Island earlier had Mega Mack running through it, and I've got a feeling the others might do to."

"Yikes," Tails said quietly.

"Yeah," Sonic replied, "But once we've done all that we can get back to normal. No doubt Eggman will come up with another plan soon, and we'll have to be ready. Robotnik's got more of an incentive now, so there's no telling what he might try," Sonic paused, "anyway, enough of all that. It's late, and I think we should get some sleep," he said, laying against a palm tree. Sonic closed his eyes.

"Hey Sonic."

"Yes Tails?"

"Why didn't you hand Kintobor the fake emeralds instead of the Grey Emerald back in the lab?" Tails asked, still confused on that detail he'd heard Sonic mention to the public earlier, "it would've meant Robotnik wouldn't have got to Kintobor, and he might've figured out how to stay as Kintobor."

Sonic didn't answer. He rolled over, his back to Tails. Mentally Sonic kicked himself for what was a very hasty decision, that had it panned out the other way would've saved Mobius from Robotnik's evil ways.

"Kintobor will be back," Tails said, trying to cheer Sonic up, "It may be a little longer but he'll be back.

"We had him," Sonic said angrily, "We had everything as we wanted it, and it still got messed up," Sonic punched the tree he was resting against. Tails didn't say anything; there was nothing he could say. Sonic would calm down with sleep, thought Tails

"Sorry," Sonic said, realising he was making Tails uneasy, "We'll get Kintobor back, and beat Robotnik. I swear it, even if it's the last thing I do. You hear me Robotnik? I won't rest until you're gone forever!"

Both Sonic and Tails drifted to sleep soon after that. A small mechanical bug looked at the pair. It whirred slightly, sending a confirmation signal over a scrambled radio frequency before hiding itself amongst the ruins.

* * *

_Will Sonic ever get Kintobor back? Just what was the bug transmitting? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.  
_


	53. Still not dreaming

_The story so far: Bark has returned to his boss, his mission complete. Meanwhile Sonic has returned to a hero's welcome in the Green Hill Zone._

* * *

Robotnik clenched his fists. When he was fighting Sonic in the tower he hadn't known it, but checking now he'd realised that his mind control device had been sabotaged. Since his Chaos Compressor had been set off twice, all effects of it had been cancelled out. Setting it off on the whole of Mobius was an accident; Robotnik was merely going to test it on Bean. Of course Robotnik had no idea that Bean was one of the Servers of Chaos. Robotnik banged the desktop fiercely; his latest plan had proved a failure. He was frustrated with himself; he had exactly everything where he wanted it. He had Sonic trapped, he had Mobius under his control, and at one point he had a Chaos Emerald in his hand.

Robotnik consoled himself slightly. He had to admit he had no idea that Kintobor was in the Emeralds. Robotnik realised that it was Kintobor's interference more than anything else that had ruined his plan. Robotnik smirked slightly, perhaps one day he would retry this plan, aware of Kintobor's presence.

Robotnik stood upright, wobbling slightly as he did. He looked around his quarters, admiring the luxury of the place for a moment. His robots had done an excellent job in putting out the fires of the Flying Egg V2, and making the place function as an underwater fortress was a masterstroke of design. Robotnik sat in another chair, and glanced out the window. He looked out to the ocean briefly, dismissing the few fish and dolphins that swam past. Robotnik looked amongst the data he had in front of him. He'd guessed that someone would hack into his computer network, and had set up hundreds of dummy files. The thought of Tails trying to make sense of plans that were flawed made him chuckle quietly to himself.

Despite its main purpose being to amplify the Compressor's blast, Robotnik's latest satellite was still in orbit. With a few modifications Robotnik was sure he'd be able to use it again. Likewise the Chaos Emeralds were now in an alternate dimension, ready for the taking. All Robotnik had to do was find out how to get there, and beat Sonic to them.

Robotnik had already sent out his robots in the escape pods to look for the entrances. Not only did that move guarantee Sonic wouldn't check in the ocean for the newly formed fortress, but it also gave Robotnik a head start on those Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik wanted the emeralds more than ever now. Not only did having them ad to his life expectancy, but now that he knew he was one of the Servers of Chaos. As such he should be able to harness there power. He thought back to the times he'd seen Sonic do it, if he could get hold of that kind of that kind of power, Robotnik mused, then he would be unstoppable, and the whole of Mobius would quickly bow before Robotnik as ruler, and leader of the Eggman Empire.

Robotnik went to bed wearily. Changing into his pyjamas, and placing the night cap on his head, he took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes wearily. Robotnik hoped that returning into the emeralds, and getting his body back from Kintobor would be enough to rid Kintobor from his mind, and allow him to sleep peacefully. He laid his head on his pillow, as thoughts of the destruction of Westside Island entered his head. His plan might not have worked, but there weren't many failures that had culminated with such a spectacular amount of destruction. Robotnik sighed slightly as he realised he'd never be able to make that kind of quantity of Mega Mack and oil again. Through his mind, Robotnik began to consider other explosives he could use.

There was a quiet beep from his computer. Robotnik got up and looked, rubbing his eyes. Squinting to read it without his glasses, he fumbled them back onto his face. He looked on the screen to the sight of a familiar two tailed fox sleeping underneath a palm tree. Panning the camera to the left slightly, Robotnik caught a glimpse of a blue hedgehog, firmly asleep.

"Sleep while you can dear Sonic," Robotnik said quietly, "You may have won today, but tomorrow is another day," he chuckled smugly. A paw reached out to the bug, and swiped at it, ceasing the image. Robotnik smacked his table angrily, before smirking. Robotnik had just been given another idea. He began to type into his keyboard excitedly, noting down theories, requirements, ideas, and mathematical formulas. Looking at the data, Robotnik knew it wouldn't be enough to take over the planet alone, but he was sure he could use it combined with something else.

Clicking the save icon, the screen flickered. Robotnik looked on shocked, as the screen read, "Eggman virus activated. Deleting key components."

"What!" Robotnik screamed angrily. He ran through all his security protocols to no effect. Desperately trying to halt the virus he began coding his own anti-virus code, and frantically tried to disable connections amongst the rest of the ship. The light in his room flicked off briefly, before turning back on. Robotnik looked to his screen and saw a familiar red face on his screen, as the lights cut out a second time.

A small Flasher appeared in the corner of the room. Engaging its bright bulb the room was soon returned to light. Robotnik tried to get the computer back on, to no avail. Robotnik looked around the room. Nothing in his room would respond without power. He looked for another robot, before finally conceding defeat. Carefully picking up the flasher he attached a small portable sound device to it, and holding the microphone to his mouth he said, "I want the power to this place restored immediately. All non essential robots are to get the power working again."

Robotnik opened the door to his room, and ordered the flasher to send that message through the entirety of the place. The Flasher blindly obeyed its orders, leaving Robotnik to sit in the darkness. The doctor pulled his hands down his face, over his moustache, and sighed loudly. Fumbling around his room, he made his way back to his bed. Without any light or power, all he could do was sleep. Hopefully, he thought, tomorrow would be a better day than today. Consoling himself again with thoughts of the destruction of Westside Island, Robotnik slowly eased himself into a deep sleep.

It didn't last long as a pipe burst above him, pouring a sticky purple liquid known as Mega Mack over him. Robotnik sat upright, and screamed, "I hate that hedgehog!"

_The End_

* * *

_Just what has Robotnik come up with? Will he succeed in getting the Chaos Emeralds? There's only one way to find out... wait for the follow up._ _That's it for this story folks. I'd like to thank anyone who read this story to the end. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Leave your opinions in the usual place, and I'll see you in the side story _"The Misadventures of the Missing Emerald"_ (working title), real soon. Hopefully that will answer a few of the loose ends this story has created._


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